Seven countries of the Southwest Indian Ocean have set up a regional network to assess and mitigate the impact of climate change on small-scale fisheries in the region.
The countries under the ECOFISH programme namely Kenya, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and Tanzania/Zanzibar, say that the network and cooperation will provide the region and its member countries with the necessary data to measure the extent of climate change impact on the region’s fisheries resources
The cooperation was reached upon after a regional meeting held in Nairobi to assess and predict the potential impacts of climate change on small-scale fisheries in the region that involved decision-makers from the Ministry of Fisheries, researchers from climate change research institutions, as
well as the National Focal Points of ECOFISH Programme from the seven countries.
ECOFISH is an interregional programme funded by the European Union, which brings equitable economic growth through the promotion of sustainable fisheries in the region of Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
While the global food security is becoming a prominent issue, Vêlayoudom Marimoutou, Secretary General of the Indian Ocean Commission said with the kind of network , countries will be able to work together towards identifying appropriate solutions and creating synergies, because climate change is a global issue
According to the stakeholders, the initiative is timely particularly because if the global temperature were to increase by 2°C, the fish stock of the Southwest Indian Ocean would decrease by 15 to 50 percent compared to that of 2005.
This would worsen an already grim food situation, since fish represents about 17percent of animal protein in the world.
Vincent Degert, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles said it is essential for the region to find solutions to preserve the important food and economic resource.
The workshop adopted the report and proposed 17 series of indicators to assess the effects of climate change on fisheries resources in the region.
These indicators include environmental and socio-economic data, as well as data on governance, climate finance, etc. and provide a comprehensive view of the challenges to be met.
According to the stakeholders, the regional collaboration aimed at coping with climate change is particularly relevant because about 80 percent of the negative effects of global warming are felt in Africa, while the African continent produces only 4 percent of the emissions causing the problem.