The introduction of the Large Marine Ecosystem concept into
the management of the goods and services of
the coastal and marine environment of the West and Central African countries in 1995,
enabled these coastal states to strengthen
their cooperation efforts and most importantly to ensure
synergy in the manner in which they complied with a myriad of
oceans-related multilateral agreements to which they are parties.
It's important to highlight that GEF played
a crucial role in this process by supporting the LME concept.
Two major projects, GEF-funded projects,
provided the opportunity for these countries to carry out
a transdiagnostic analysis that lead towards
defining priority actions within a strategic action program.
What is important here is that the political momentum that
was generated through this process was unprecedented.
We found a country-driven process,
where from a high-level political level the ministers of the environment and key sectors
involved in the management of Large Marine Ecosystems took commitments.
Firstly, in the Accra Declaration to move the pilot phase from
the six countries that were involved expanding it to 16 other countries.
In the Abuja Declaration that followed later on,
there was recognition for a strong coordination of this process,
and so the Interim Guinea Current Commission was established but later on
made a permanent governance structure with the GCC established under the Osu Declaration.
But what is important is that to clarify the mandate of this body,
the Abidjan Convention made it clear
that this permanent governance structure had
to be established as a protocol under the Abidjan Convention.
We think that these were major achievements that came in as a result of adopting
a transboundary ecosystem management approach for these valuable goods and
services that should drive the development of the countries and the people in the region.
The major achievements in the application of the Large Marine Ecosystem project was
the human dimensions to the activities that were carried out.
The human well-being ecological linkage and interdependence was very evident
especially in the application of the five modules that drive this approach.
In fact, this led to what I would call a key benefit which was that of
strengthening the relationship between natural science and social scientist.
We find here that the interface between scientific findings and policy,
that has been very weak,
was strengthened in this process.
In the extent to which scientific information was
able to inform decision and policy-making processes.
If we take the modules of fisheries, pollution,
and productivity, we find out that several monitoring activities were carried out,
that led to the generation of data,
the updating of data,
the establishment of scientific networks in carrying out this.
Using the various governance platforms that were established;
interministerial committees, the regional activities centers.
Within this the projects, we were able to
upscale and influence key strategic frameworks and policies.
Today you have a series of Integrated Coastal Management Plans;
National Action Plans that have been developed at national levels,
and that are aligned with the strategic action plans to ensure
a coherent and synergetic intervention
in terms of managing the goods and services of the region.
What is also very,
very important as a major impact,
is the direct livelihood impact of those activities.
Demonstration Projects were put in place during this process.
and in, the fisheries module,
we find out that
small-scale fishing activities by fishermen in the coastal region were supported.
Activities were put in place to combat the illegal,
unregulated, and unreported fishing.
Various restoration efforts were put in place and especially for mangrove ecosystems.
We also note that local technology was used to protect coastal erosion in the region.
And all of this contributed significantly to
strengthening the efforts for food security in the region.
We would note that 16 countries involved in the GCLME region and these countries have
over 300 million people across scales
from coastal communities to national-level,
private sector industries, and to regional-level beneficiaries.
All these were impacted and were
beneficiaries from the GCLME projects that were executed.