UNDP and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) join forces to promote sustainable management of the Western Indian Ocean

UNDP is supporting the nine WIO countries in adopting an “ecosystem-based management” (EBM) approach through the implementation of the Agulhas and Somali Currents Large Marine Ecosystems (ASCLME) project.  The EBM aims at sustaining capacity of the ecosystems and resources to provide essential long term production of goods and services such as: safe food, safe transport and navigation, recreation and tourism, offshore energy, protection of threatened and endangered species, and healthy marine environment. The ASCLME project is financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNDP, ASCLME governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, and NGOs.

The agreement is a climax to three years of partnership and collaboration between the US NOAA and the UNDP/GEF ASCLME project.  Key areas of agreed collaboration include:

• The collection of information to facilitate the monitoring of climate change and ecosystem variability;
• The development of an early warning system to alert countries in  the region to the impacts of climate change;
• The coordination and development of transboundary fisheries management strategies; and
• The development of management plans for fisheries that are designed to be sensitive to the impacts of climate change.

It is believed that this cooperation agreement between UNDP and NOAA will bring the science closer to the people.  Together UNDP and NOAA will ensure future scientific research will contribute to the socioeconomic progress and the improvement in climate change resilience of the people in the WIO region and beyond.