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Working with countries on concrete tools to support Integrated Ocean Management.

The Mami Wata Project is focusing on the three thematic areas of the Marine Environment Reporting (SoME), the identification of Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) Ecologically or Biologically Significant marine Areas (EBSAs) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), to support Integrated Ocean Management (IOM). The emphasis on the three tools is visible through all of the project initiatives, including the pilot projects and in the capacity development activities.

Through the establishment of three toolkits, the project is gathering knowledge, examples and experiences on the three themes, to inform stakeholders and actors in the region. The toolkits are being designed to provide practical guidance and regional examples to support the relevant activities in the Abidjan Convention Member Countries.

The Guidance Documents

Each toolkit is developing a guidance document, which will evolve throughout the life of the project as a living document. The documents will draw on lessons learned through the implementation of the upcoming three Mami Wata pilot projects, and other regional examples on the application of SoME, EBSAs and MSP.

Mami Wata is developing the guidance documents with the aim of making these as useful as possible to the countries of the Abidjan Convention Region. Each guidance document consists of an overview of the thematic area and presents a stepwise guide to initiating, implementing and incorporating these processes into an IOM framework. At each step, relevant regional examples are used to demonstrate how challenges have been addressed to provide relevant regional solutions.

The guidance documents are written and developed through a participatory approach, consisting of input from Mami Wata team experts and experts and stakeholders from the Abidjan Convention region.

Through the application of the guidance documents in the pilot projects, they will be complemented by specific technical and process tools to form a toolkit. They will be reviewed in light of the experience gathered, and finalised for further uptake by Member Countries of the Abidjan Convention and shared through, for example, the UN Environment Regional Seas Programme.

News from the Project