Issue 15 of the WIOMSA Magazine Published

The latest issue of the WIOMSA Magazine is now available!

Guest edited by Alison Clausen, Deputy Coordinator of the Ocean Decade, Issue 15 of the WIOMSA Magazine: People and the Environment, focuses on the 12th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium  and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The 12th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium, held in October 2022 in South Africa, was an official action of the Ocean Decade meant to generate momentum for the implementation of the Ocean Decade Africa Roadmap in the WIO region. Over nine hundred stakeholders gathered at the event to deliberate on Africa-wide challenges and opportunities around innovation, collaboration and science-based policy making. The Symposium was particularly essential in communicating to the African and global audience the progress of the Ocean Decade. Issue 15  highlights some of the special sessions and mini symposia of the 12th WIOMSA Symposium and how they align to the UN Ocean Decade priorities for the Western Indian Ocean region.

It also includes a summary of the CMS Dugong MOU Special Session, ‘Progressing Dugong and Seagrass Conservation in the WIO’ (page 48):
Conservation strategies and actions for dugongs in the region need to address multiple anthropogenic threats, including mortality from gill nets and from loss of seagrass habitat due to destructive fishing practices and land-based sources of pollution.
Gabriel Grimsditch, CMS Office – Abu Dhabi

This issue features captivating highlights on co-design, biodiversity conservation, coastal ecosystems, marine spatial planning and the involvement of communities in the push towards the Ocean Decade vision of the science we need for the ocean we want.

Download the Magazine.