31 March 2023
Regional workshop with MPA managers from the South West Indian Ocean
From 27 to 31 March, a regional workshop was held in Nosy Be (Madagascar), bringing together the managers of the network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Co-organised by the Varuna and RECOS programmes with WIOMPAN, this workshop aimed to strengthen the network's skills through exchange and training activities.
The Western Indian Ocean Marine Protected Areas Professional Network (WIOMPAN) and the Varuna and RECOS programmes jointly organised an event from 27 to 31 March in Nosy Be, Madagascar. The Varuna_AMP project is implemented by Réserves Naturelles de France and coordinated by Expertise France to support the structuring of the MPA/LMMA (Locally-Managed Marine Area Network) in the region. The RECOS project is led by the Indian Ocean Commission on the resilience of coastal areas, and is also funded by the French Development Agency.
This technical event included two days of exchanges between the managers on their needs to increase their skills and the expertise they have to offer. Then a training session was organised on the IMET (Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool) to measure the effectiveness of the management of marine protected areas. To complete this collective work, the Nosy Tanikely National Park welcomed the participants for a field visit in order to measure the challenges, constraints and concrete actions of the managers.
The workshop brought together 40 participants from 7 different territories in the region: Madagascar, the Union of Comoros, Mauritius, Mayotte, Tanzania, Reunion and the Seychelles. It was also an opportunity to define joint actions between WIOMPAN-RECOS-Varuna to support MPA/LMMA managers in the region.
The workshop also provided an opportunity to start developing a joint roadmap between the Varuna and RECOS projects on their actions in support of the MPA network. It enabled the identification of the possible and respective areas of contribution of each of the projects in complementarity and to meet the needs expressed by the managers. This roadmap should eventually lead to a joint action plan and work schedule, also feeding into the organisation of the MPA inventory in the region.
This first regional workshop is only the beginning of a long series of exchanges between MPA managers in the form of thematic workshops, companionship, training, technical exchange days, etc., under the guidance of Réserves naturelles de France within the Varuna programme.
