Strengthening the Southwestern indian ocean islands network By Said Ahamada Assistant in charge of environment and fisheries said.ahamada@coi-ioc.org ICRI 29 th General Meeting in OKINAWA, October 2014
1. Introduction
1.1. IOC 5 millions km2 of ZEE, 14,000 km2 coral reefs cover and 25 millions population Economic and environmental vulnerability due to their remoteness, insularity, and susceptibility to natural disasters, limited institutional capacities, and limited access to external capital. Creation 1982/1984 with Victoria agreement One of the key objective is to contribute to the sustainable development of its member countries trhough regional cooperation
5 intervention areas: DI -1 Stability& Diplomaty, health, Gender et Mobility DI-2 Economic infrastructures and regional space DI-3 Blue and green growth, specialisation and economic valorisation DI-4 Sustainable environnement and climate change Biodiversitéy and sustainable management of marine and coastal resources Natural Risks management Climate change adaptation DI-5 indianoceanic dentity and human resources development
1.2. the coral reef monitoring network Creation in Nosy Be Madagascar, 1997/1998 as SWIOIS GCRMN Node: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion/France and Seychelles. The objective is to contribute to the integrated costal zone management of the Southwestern Indian Ocean Islands States through coral reef health status monitoring Funding: PRECOI-UE; GEF, WWF/FGEF; ReCoMaP-COI/UE; CORDIO, National funding Piloted by Focal points and Responsible Ministries of IOC members countries
2. Lessons learnt 2.1. Success Training and equipment of national teams provided Monitoring and vulnerability mapping guidelines developped COREMO database developped and used for regular reporting 184 sites monitored Regular contribution national, regional and global GCRMN reports 2.2. Constraints Weak institutional arrangement Insufficient funding 2011/2012 gap
3. Support from new projects
3.1. ISLANDS project Geographic coverage: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania [Zanzibar, Pemba]) Funding EDF 10: @ 10 millions EUR [August 2011 September 2013] [Phase 1] The specific objective of the programme is to accelerate the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy in the ESA-IO region through a regional programme. Result 1: A Monitoring and Evaluation System for the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy is developed and operational, regional and international level; Result 2: Best practices in mitigating vulnerabilities of SIDS on the four selected thematic areas are established (including coral reef); Result 3: The region has capacity to leverage commitments for the pursuit of best practices on the four selected thematic areas and attract investments for implementation; Result 4: Partnership for implementation of MS at national, regional and global level strengthened.
Specific coral reef interventions Rebuilding as subcomittee under national ICZM committees Regional charter redefining missions, membership and structuration Training in GIS, MPA management, GCRM&Reef check monitoring Tools provided with atlas, monitoring guidelines, metadata report and CRIS Communication with e-newsletter, facebook page, TNC plateforme
3.2. Coastal, Marine and Island Specific Biodiversity Management program 15 M E funding with implementation from the IOC for 5 years (2014-2018) Geographical coverage: ESA-I0 Coastal States (IOC Members States + Kenya and Tanzania) Specific objective: To develop and strengthen national and regional capacity to manage the direct and indirect use of coastal, marine and island-specific eco-systems towards the sustainable conservation of bio-diversity. Expected results Result 1: Improved and harmonized policies and legal and institutional frameworks for the sustainable use of biodiversity are developed across the region. Results 2: Education, sensitization, communication and information tools for the management of biodiversity are developed, enhanced and applied in support of decision-makers at regional, national and community level.
Results 3: Improved systems for networking and exchange of data, statistics and other biodiversity-related information are established. Result 4: Bio-diversity Thematic Centres, are created (or enhanced) as mechanisms for exchanging information, and experience and best practice in, the sustainable use of bio diversity Result 5 : The contribution of biodiversity to sustainable economic development and sustainable livelihoods is supported or enhanced Specific coral reef interventions Support the finilization and hosting of CRIS Network animation Pilote projects through CFP
3.3. FFEM marine&coastal environment Project Geographic coverage: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, France/Réunion Funding FFEM/Other partners: @ 3.2 millions EUR The specific objective Support to local innovations and partnerships contributing to the conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment in the South West Indian Ocean Three main thematic areas are: Sustainable Management of Coral Reefs; Marine Protected Areas; Sustainable Management of Coastal Fisheries. Specific coral reef intervention: Support of 3 pilotes sites (MMP Comoros, Rodrigues and Sainte Marie Madagascar) Data, information and experiences exchanges
4. Conclusions & recommandations For low costs functioning, facilitation of CRIS USE for regular reporting and TNC plateform for communication Need to link the environmental indicators to holistic monitoring framework including socioeconomic indicators, process indicators and stress reduction indicators for management purposes For strong institutional ownership, endorsment of the regional charter; Consolidate linkages with the CRTF, WIOCC and GCRMN Synergies and complementarities development between projects http://commissionoceanindien.org
Thank you