On 28 September 2025 in Mombasa, Kenya, the chairs of WIOMPAN’s national chapters came together for the annual WIOMPAN Regional Chairs Meeting, a day of collective reflection, learning, and coordination. Hosted alongside WIOMSA’s regional programmes, the meeting united leaders from Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, South Africa, and La Réunion to review progress and shape the network’s 2025–2026 agenda.
The session opened with a welcome from WIOMPAN President Allen Cedras (Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority), who highlighted the importance of maintaining a strong community of practice across the region:
“WIOMPAN’s strength lies in its people—those working daily to protect the coasts and seas of the Western Indian Ocean. This meeting is about keeping those connections alive and translating them into collective impact.”
Regional progress and priorities
Each national chair presented updates on their country chapters—covering activities from joint monitoring and ranger training in Kenya, to LMMA legal recognition in Madagascar, enforcement and METT assessments in South Africa, and new partnerships for blue financing in Mozambique.
Common themes emerged across presentations:
- Strengthening management effectiveness and technical capacity in MPAs and LMMAs;
- Promoting gender inclusion and youth engagement within conservation teams;
- Advancing legal frameworks for locally managed areas and OECMs; and
- Expanding opportunities for peer learning and certification through WIO-COMPAS.
The meeting also revisited the outcomes of the 2024 Systems-Informed Capacity Development Workshop, reaffirming that professionalisation and regional coordination remain central to achieving the 30 by 30 targets under the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Shaping WIOMPAN’s 2025–2026 roadmap
Through roundtable discussions, the chairs outlined a shared workplan focused on:
- Supporting country chapter governance renewal and membership growth;
- Aligning national action plans with the WIOMPAN Workforce Strategy;
- Consolidating regional capacity development opportunities through training, exchange, and certification programmes;
- Developing partnerships and resource mobilisation mechanisms for site-level implementation; and
- Strengthening collaboration with aligned initiatives such as Hifadhi Blu and regional OECM recognition processes.
As the meeting concluded, participants reaffirmed their commitment to keep WIOMPAN an active, practitioner-driven network that speaks with one regional voice for the Western Indian Ocean’s marine protected and conserved areas.
