Ten countries that share the Western Indian Ocean have adopted 15 decisions setting out regional commitments on ocean governance, marine pollution, biodiversity and the blue economy. The decisions closed the Nairobi Convention’s 12th Conference of the Parties in Dar es Salaam on 9 October, at a meeting marking 40 years of regional cooperation.
The decisions cover a wide agenda: strengthening ocean governance and ecosystem monitoring; responding to plastic pollution; conserving and restoring critical habitats; preparing for major marine pollution incidents; and improving ocean accounting and access to blue finance. The parties also endorsed work connected with the global biodiversity framework and called for a coordinated regional approach to the agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.
Commitments across shared waters
The Nairobi Convention is a regional treaty under the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Seas Programme. Its ten contracting parties are Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania. The convention provides a forum for cooperation on the marine and coastal environment across the Western Indian Ocean, where currents, wildlife and pollution do not stop at national borders.
Among the measures adopted, parties backed a regional strategy to combat plastic pollution and a contingency plan for responding to major marine pollution incidents. The latter is intended to support preparedness and response when a serious incident affects the region; its adoption does not mean that a response has already been tested or that every country has the same operational capacity. Parties also called for stronger action on land-based sources of marine degradation.
Habitat measures focus on ecosystems including mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs. These environments are important parts of the region’s coastal and marine landscape, but the decisions should be read as a policy direction for conservation, restoration and sustainable management—not as evidence that habitat loss has been reversed. Delivering change will depend on national follow-through, coordination and resources.
Turning regional decisions into delivery
The conference also advanced the convention’s 2025–2035 Integrated Regional Programme and endorsed steps to operationalise a regional ocean-governance strategy. Proposed areas of work include stronger marine spatial planning, better information systems and the use of science in decision-making. Such measures can help governments coordinate how marine space and resources are managed, but the meeting’s announcement does not report completed planning or measurable environmental improvements.
Ocean accounting and blue finance are intended to connect the value of marine and coastal resources with development choices and investment. The parties agreed actions to strengthen accounting and mobilise finance, while promoting inclusive blue-economy investment intended to benefit communities, women and young people. The decisions do not specify that funding has already been secured for every commitment, or that benefits have yet reached particular communities. Continued resource mobilisation and fulfilment of financial commitments remain part of the implementation challenge.
The agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, often called the High Seas Treaty, entered into force shortly before COP12. The parties welcomed that development and called for a coordinated regional approach, broader ratification, readiness and capacity-building. This is a call for cooperation around the agreement; it does not itself establish new protected areas or extend any country’s jurisdiction.
More than 1,600 delegates attended the four-day conference, which also included a business forum, side events and exhibitions. Mauritius was elected chair of the convention’s bureau. The next test is less the number of decisions than how countries translate them into funded work, national measures and sustained cooperation. COP12 has established shared priorities; it has not, by adopting them, demonstrated that pollution has fallen, habitats have recovered or ocean health has improved.
