A couple of years ago, in the turquoise waters off the coastal village of Mahébourg in Mauritius, a Japanese oil tanker ran aground.
An estimated 1,000 metric tonnes of fuel leaked from the damaged vessel into a pristine lagoon, home to fish, turtles and myriad marine mammals.
Mauritius, an island nation in Western Indian Ocean heavily dependent on the sea, declared a state of emergency as oil swamped beaches and killed wildlife. The accident put into stark relief just how fragile the Western Indian Ocean is and the environmental dangers it faces.
Buffeting 10 countries and stretching from eastern South Africa to the Arabian Gulf, the region is home to some 220 million people as well as diverse marine species such as silky sharks and sperm whales.
In recent decades, this pristine stretch of tropical ocean that supports some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world has come under mounting pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.
“While the environment challenges facing the Western Indian Ocean are similar to those facing other maritime areas, this region is highly vulnerable to climate change due its location and tropical nature,” said Jared Bosire, Head of the Nairobi Convention, a partnership between governments, civil society and the private sector. “Poor waste management and high dependence on primary natural resources as economic drivers further compound these challenges,” he added.
The Nairobi Convention is part of the Regional Seas Programme established by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The Convention entered into force in 1996 to address the accelerating degradation of the Western Indian Ocean by increasing the capacity of 10 West Indian Ocean nations to protect, manage and develop their coastal and marine environment.
The Convention’s Ocean Governance Programme is the glue that holds together its work on combating climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Through the Sapphire project funded by the Global Environment Facility, the Nairobi Convention also promotes policy and institutional reform to foster sustainable resource management and ocean governance.
The Eleventh Conference of Parties (COP11) to the Nairobi Convention kicks off on 20 August in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Among the agenda items is the completion of a regional strategy to govern the Western Indian Ocean.
The gathering comes as the ocean is warming faster than any other stretch of sea, often resulting in catastrophic storms such as Cyclone Idai in 2019 and Cyclone Freddy in 2023.
Along with a heavy human toll, the storms ravaged sensitive coastal ecosystems, including coral reefs and mangrove forests. Climate change, where warmer water makes oxygen less soluble, therefore making the ocean more acidic, limits its ability to absorb planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
To counter these threats, the Nairobi Convention is developing a regional strategy to help countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and support communities as they adapt to climate change. In Kenya, for example, UNEP and the convention are backing so-called blue carbon projects, which will help direct financing towards the protection of thousands of hectares of mangroves.
The Western Indian Ocean is home to an array of plants and animals, and is criss-crossed by migration routes. However, overfishing and the destruction of life-sustaining ecosystems, like mangroves and sea grass beds, is threatening this biodiversity.
To counter these perils, the Nairobi Convention has invested heavily in projects focusing on ecosystem restoration and management. UNEP and the Global Environment Facility have partnered together on several of these, including an effort to restore mangroves in Mozambique and bolster the income of local communities.
The success of the Nairobi Convention would go a long way in ensuring the effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Adopted in 2022, the international agreement lays out 23 targets to be achieved by 2030 including protecting 30 per cent of the ocean from threats like pollution.
With its beautiful islands, warm waters and pristine sandy beaches, it is no surprise that many of the coastal areas of the Western Indian Ocean, such as Mauritius and Seychelles, are among some of the most popular destinations for tourists from around the world.
However, overtourism coupled with rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have resulted in increased pollution, especially plastic pollution. An estimated 15 million tons of plastic waste finds its way into the Indian Ocean each year, making it the second-most-polluted ocean in the world after the North Pacific.
To deal with the growing threat of pollution and waste, the Nairobi Convention states have launched a project to reduce land-based stresses by protecting critical habitats, improving water quality and managing river flows. Additionally, the convention has supported the development a Strategic Framework on Water Quality Monitoring, a guideline which is currently being rolled out across Western Indian Ocean countries.
“The millions of people who call the coasts of the Western Indian Ocean home rely on the sea for their livelihoods, food security and cultural heritage,” said Leticia Carvalho, Head of UNEP’s Marine and Freshwater Branch. “By preserving the rich biodiversity of the region, we ensure the sustainability of these resources for future generations.”
The Nairobi Convention
The Nairobi Convention, signed by Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania, aims to promote a prosperous Western Indian Ocean region with healthy rivers, coasts, and oceans. It provides a platform for governments, civil society, and the private sector to work together for the sustainable management and use of the marine and coastal environment.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
The planet is experiencing a dangerous decline in nature. One million species are threatened with extinction, soil health is declining and water sources are drying up. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, sets out global targets to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. It was adopted by world leaders in December 2022. To address the drivers of the nature crisis, UNEP is working with partners to take action in landscapes and seascapes, transform our food systems, and close the finance gap for nature.
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