WILDOCEANS is expanding its marine conservation efforts to the Comoros Archipelago this month, with a new project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), highlighting the importance of sustainable tourism development and marine conservation.
The Comoros coral reefs boasts the highest concentration of coral marine species within a small area, and offers one of the world’s largest coral atolls, with hundreds of fish species, shells, and corals.
The research team aims to study the marine biodiversity and fish abundance in the deeper ecosystems (benthic) in the Comoros. Research will be led by Chief Scientist, Melita Samoilys, Director of Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO), a well-known Kenyan NGO.
The project seeks to achieve impact in four areas, namely, biodiversity knowledge improvement, enhancement of civil society capacity, improved human well-being and creation of enabling conditions for conservation.
“We will be exploring the unknown areas to understand where the sensitive areas are and where the protection should be. We look forward to working with the University of Comoros and the Fisheries Directorate scientists and their students in the Comoros Archipelago, looking at their deeper habitats,” said Dr Jean Harris, Executive Director of WILDOCEANS.
Two local community development organisations, UMAMA and AIDE, will communicate biodiversity conservation and fisheries sustainability principles to school children and local community stakeholders.
Zamil Maturaf Maanfeu, Community Mobiliser for National Parks of Comoros and Coordinator of UMAMA said: “There is so much opportunity for tourism in the Comoros. Since Comoros is a developing country, with room for economic development. The plan is to initiate underwater hikes or webbed hikes in the Comoros. It’s also important to encourage communities to take ownership of the conservation of corals by generating sustainable income for themselves, especially from the fishing communities. It is essential that the fishermen understand that corals do not only give fish, but they can also generate direct income in another way.”
Generating baseline data for data-poor ecosystems within these key biodiversity areas, will result in information being used for future conservation projects and regional marine protected area (MPA) network expansion initiatives.
The CEPF is a joint initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank.
