On 24th June 2021, a group of 52 representatives from the Western Indian Ocean region participated in the first Adaptive Management Seminar for Marine Protected Areas, hosted by the Nairobi Convention and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) and WIOMSA. This first Seminar focused on the benefits of addressing marine areas protection from a network perspective, at the national or regional levels.
During the session, Dr. Jared Bosire from the Nairobi Convention framed the seminar as one of the actions in line to address the challenges and recommendations identified during the preparation of the Western Indian Ocean MPA Outlook report, a most awaited document to be officially presented on July 16th.
Following that, Ms. Jenny Hertzmann from SwAM and Ms. Annette Olsson from FOS Europe explained the logic and actions foreseen in the SwAM Ocean program, and Ms. Hertzman and Ms. Ilke Tilders from FOS Europe shared the Framework and Method for MPA design and management implemented in two regions of Sweden, the Gulf of Botnia and the Baltic Proper. Finally, Dr. Ané Oosthuizen from South Africa National Parks presented Operation Phakisa, the process leading to the recent designation of 20 new MPAs in South Africa.
The recording of the session and the documents presented are available here. For further information on the event, please email xavi at fosonline.org
