Nairobi Convention COP10 agrees to new actions to protect critical habitats, improve climate preparedness in the Western Indian Ocean

Antananarivo, 25 November 2021 - Parties to the Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management, and Development of the Coastal and Marine Environment of the Eastern Africa region (Nairobi Convention) concluded the 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) today with new actions on protecting critical habitats like mangroves and combating climate change in the region. More than 65 million people live within 100 kilometers of the Western Indian Ocean coastline and depend on the food, employment, and recreation it provides – services and resources valued at an estimated 20 billion per year. In addition, the Western Indian Ocean is also home to between 11,000 and 20,000 marine species, many of which can be found nowhere else on earth. The Nairobi Convention's COP10, hosted by Madagascar, brought together the 10 signatory countries to the treaty from 23 to 25 November – Comoros, Kenya, France, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania – to decide on the direction and strategies for how they will work to collectively and interactively protect, manage and develop the Western Indian Ocean over the next two years.