Introduction
The Nairobi Convention provides a mechanism for
regional cooperation, coordination and collaborative
actions, and enables the Contracting Parties to
harness resources and expertise from a wide range
of stakeholders and interest groups towards solving
interlinked problems of the coastal and marine
environment.
The Nairobi Convention plays a coordinating
role in the implementatioimplementation of a series
of intervention projects developed under the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) environment
initiative. The aim is to stem any further degradation
of the marine environment and to reverse the degradation
and destruction of critical habitats.
The Nairobi Convention is an important platform
for dialogue between Governments and the civil
society at the regional and national level. Partnerships
between the Nairobi Convention and regional non-governmental
organizations such as The World Conservation Union
(IUCN) and Western Indian Ocean Marine Science
Association (WIOMSA) have encouraged government
focal points to work together with NGOs to share
expertise and experience with an aim of stemming
the multitude of problems associated with unplanned
urbanization and poor regulatory regimes.
The Convention offers
a legal framework and coordinates the efforts
of the countries of the region to plan and develop
programmes that strengthen their capacity to protect,
manage and develop their coastal and marine environment
sustainably.
It also provides a forum for
inter-governmental discussions that lead to better
understanding of regional environmental problems
and the strategies needed to address them; develops
and implements regional programmes and projects that address critical national and transboundary issues; and promotes sharing of information and experiences in the WIO region and with the rest of the world.
The Nairobi Convention is a partnership
Convention. It recognizes the success in the protection,
management and development of the coastal and
marine environment of the WIO region will depend
on effective partnerships built on strategic linkages
between governments, NGOs and the private sector.
The Nairobi Convention covers
countries that are rich in biodiversity and natural
resources. Most of the marine and coastal ecosystems
are transboundary in nature and the impacts from
human activities often extend across national
boundaries. The work Programme for the Nairobi
Convention 2008-2012 will promote an ecosystem-based,
multi-sector approach in policy and management,
taking into consideration, whole systems rather
than individual components and focusing on systems
integrity.
An ecosystems approach to manage
marine and coastal resources addresses the interconnectedness
between land-based activities, fresh water systems
and coastal and marine environments. The approach
recognizes the effect of the environment on the
resource being exploited and the effect of resource
exploitation on the environment. This approach
ensures that there is a balance between sustainable
use and the fair and equitable sharing of the
benefits arising out of the utilization of marine
and coastal resources over time.
The two major ecosystems in the Western Indian
Ocean (WIO) region, i.e. the Agulhas and Somalia
Current Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs), contain
important critical habitats such as sea grass
beds, coral reefs and mangrove forests. These
habitats are areas of high diversity and are critical
fish spawning and nursery areas that provide other
vital ecological services, such as shoreline shelter
from ocean swells.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the
support of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi
Convention and their development partners, have
embraced the ecosystems approach and are investing
over $78 million, between 2004 and 2012, to support
LME projects in the Western Indian Ocean.
The three main projects include;
- The South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project
(SWIOPF; Budget- $35.67 million), implemented
by The World Bank ;
- The Agulhas and Somalia Current Large Marine
Ecosystem project (Budget - $31.186 million),
implemented by UNDP;
- Project addressing land-based activities in
the Western Indian Ocean (WIO-LaB; Budget-,$11.413
million implemented by UNEP.
Secretariat of the Nairobi Convention
The Nairobi Convention has two
offices: one based at the UNEP headquarters in
Nairobi, Kenya, and the other in the Seychelles.
The UNEP-based secretariat works closely with
two Regional Coordinating Units in Abidjan and
Seychelles, and is responsible for providing overall
technical coordination, planning and developing
the work programme of the Convention and monitoring
the progress in its implementation. The Regional
Coordinating Unit (RCU) based in the Seychelles
is responsible for activities geared towards enhancing
political visibility for the Nairobi Convention,
and resource mobilization. The responsibilities
of the Convention are therefore split into a)
programs coordination based in Nairobi, Kenya
and b) intergovernmental political coordination
based in the Seychelles
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