Western Indian Ocean

There are multiple impacts of climate change to our ocean including ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, sea-level rise, more frequent and intense storms, marine heat waves, and loss of marine life and habitat. Western Indian Ocean (WIO) marine ecosystems and resources are vulnerable to the cumulative impacts of OA and climate change. This has impacts on the region’s development goals, sustainable blue economy, and food security.

Bodies like the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) are critical players in increasing regional scientific knowledge, prioritizing discrete projects at local scales, and are well aligned to provide decision makers and communities with research and monitoring information on current and emerging marine socio-ecological threats and potential responses.

The Nairobi Convention provides a legal framework for parties to protect, manage, and sustainably develop the coastal and marine environment in the WIO. In 2021, the Conference of Parties to the Nairobi Convention requested the secretariat to develop, “A regional action plan to both monitor and enhance national climate change intervention strategies to minimize the impacts of ocean acidification.” The decision has established an opportunity for integrating ongoing OA monitoring and research work into the broader governance mandates of the Convention.

To support national and regional responses to climate-ocean change, managers and decision-makers must understand and harness linkages between OA science & monitoring and policy priorities across the WIO region and the continent.

The OA Alliance is partnering with WIOMSA on a policy communications project that will contribute towards enhancing OA monitoring, research, and vulnerability assessments in the WIO region, by illuminating their relationship to consequential climate adaptation, marine management, and sustainable development policy goals.