From 23 to 26 September 2024, the GEF International Waters Conference (GEF IWC10) took place in Punta del Este, Uruguay, under the theme Transformative actions and impacts for the water and ocean SDGs: The GEF IW response to the global challenge. During the four days, around 100 IW projects from 80 countries including the MSPglobal programme (partner or IW:LEARN project) reunited for this key learning event and to celebrate 30 years of the GEF IW focal area.

The GEF’s IW focal area has a unique mandate to support transboundary cooperation in shared marine and freshwater ecosystems. In this context, UNESCO-IOC facilitated a workshop on 25 September 2025 during the GEF IWC10 focusing on transboundary MSP and large marine ecosystems of partnerships. The panel consisted of speakers from the Nairobi Convention Secretariat, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment of South Africa (DEFFE), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the Institute of Marine Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago (IMA), the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the Coastal Zone Management Authority & Institute of Belize (CZMAI).

During the first part of the workshop, the speakers presented cases of regional collaboration which focused on their key enabling mechanisms and challenges. Afterwards, all participants were invited to join an interactive session and share their recommendations about potential solutions and innovative approaches to foster partnerships on MSP.

Transboundary MSP: Towards large marine ecosystems of partnerships

The session’s goal was to showcase and foster regional synergies between GEF IW projects dealing with MSP. From the discussions, it became clear that there are good examples in Africa and the Caribbean about regional coordination on MSP as well as countries that are using the projects as opportunities to build blocks of their MSP processes. The main topics of collaboration for projects are capacity development, sustainable blue economy and MPAs.

One of the key conclusions was that to ensure the sustainability of projects’ outcomes, regional organizations and national authorities need to connect projects’ activities to governmental MSP processes. Besides, it was proposed that innovative financing mechanisms such as blended finance and multi-contributions to one pool could facilitate synergies.

Furthermore, it was highlighted that, except for some good examples at a regional and national level, there is still a lack of coordination among countries’ partners and initiatives regarding different topics such as data. That is why strengthening the capacity to collect and manage data was identified as one of the main learning opportunities.

Lastly, another key observation made was that there is a need to improve the co-designing of projects with stakeholders (incl. governmental agencies) based on local interests, gaps and needs.

For the future, several proposals were made for IW to foster more synergies between different projects: in-person exchanges involving local representatives and practitioners, not only project coordinators; regularly sharing information and progress; partnerships and Memorandums of Understanding; as well as working groups, communities of practices and inter-project forums.

RELATED LINKS:
GEF International Waters Conference

CONTACT:
MSPglobal.comm@unesco.org