The Regional State of the Coast Report for the Western Indian Ocean region provides a comprehensive synthesis and insights into the enormous economic potential of the region and the consequential demand for marine ecosystem goods and services to match the increasing human population, the pace and scale of environmental changes taking place in the region and the opportunities to avoid serious degradation in one of the worlds unique and highly biodiverse oceans.

Under the Nairobi Convention, governments, civil society, scientific community and the private sector are working together for a prosperous Western Indian Ocean with healthy rivers, coasts and oceans. The Convention pursues this vision by providing a mechanism for regional cooperation, coordination and collaborative actions and by engaging countries into actions to protect their shared marine environment.

The region faces threats of increasing demand for resources, overfishing, pollution from offshore and land-based activities, biodiversity and habitat loss. Other challenges include urban development of coasts, impacts of climate change along the densely populated coasts, ocean acidification, warming of the ocean, along with inadequate stewardship and law enforcement.

The Convention has provided effective leadership in fostering sustainable ocean management through ecosystem-based approaches and has secured greater commitments by States, cooperation of stakeholders and active involvement of the civil society. There still remains institutional, governance and financing impediments that are beyond the ability of the Western Indian Ocean countries to address. The challenges require concerted international support to secure sources of long-term financing for the investments needed by these countries to transform to integrated, coastal and maritime sources of production, employment and growth. Unfilled sectoral financing gaps, include protecting and conserving ocean resources and ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, promoting food security and increasing sustainable productivity in marine food systems, sustainable tourism, coastal and maritime transport, ocean renewable energy, marine bioprospecting, protection and management of habitats, water supply and infrastructure, as well as other new ocean economy activities and sectors.

The overall aim of the partnership is to reduce marine pollution, demonstrate and enhance ocean governance and sustainably manage critical coastal and marine ecosystems for a prosperous Western Indian Ocean. The partnership will directly contribute to the implementation of specific targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14.

Objectives:
1. Implementation of the strategic action programme to reduce impacts from land-based sources and activities and sustainably manage critical coastal and marine ecosystems through implementation of the agreed priorities

2. Implementation of the Western Indian Ocean strategic action programme on policy harmonization and institutional reforms towards improved ocean governance and transition to a low carbon pathway

3. Sustainable management of shared fish resources and collaborative management of marine and coastal resources in the Northern Mozambique Channel

4. Improved governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction to promote the blue economy pathways in the Western Indian Ocean Region

Implementation methodologies:

The partnership will implement a number of priority activities through an organized implementation structure with specific roles and responsibilities of each partner in order to achieve the targeted milestones within agreed timelines. Use will be made of tested standard tools, templates and procedures leaning on international best practice.