Namibia Energy & Environment: 2010 and beyond

International Waters: - Implementation of the Benguela Current LME Strategic Action Programme for Restoring Depleted Fisheries and Reducing Coastal Resources Degradation (BCLME SAP IMP)

Implementing Partner: Benguela Current commission +264 061 246 948 2009 -2013

Key Issues: UNCBD; UNFCCC

Project Status: Ongoing

Location: Angola, Namibia (Windhoek) and South Africa

Contact person: Nico Willemse, South African Project Manager

Goals and objectives

1. The goal of the project will be the overall reduction in degradation of the BCLME, with emphasis on the restoration of its depleted fisheries, through effective implementation and long-term sustainability of the BCLME SAP.

2. The overall objective the implementation of the BCLME SAP through the adoption of national policy reforms, the sustainable institutionalization of a regional Commission, and the endorsement and ratification of a binding international Treaty for the LME.

3. Description / Background

The overall goal of GEF’s intervention and assistance in these three countries, within the context of the International Waters portfolio, is to secure the restoration and sustainability of the depleted marine fish stocks and associated degraded biodiversity of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME). The objective of this specific project will be to implement a Strategic Action Programme for the development and adoption of an effective transboundary LME management structure primarily addressing fish stock and fisheries rejuvenation and sustainability, supported and made operational by functioning and sustainable transboundary and national level institutions, and guided by a series of lessons and best practices. Such lessons and best practices would further form the basis of replicable procedures to secure management strategies in similar global LMEs. The primary outputs from the Project would therefore be 1) a ‘tried-and-tested’ LME Commission along with supportive regional and national structures, and 2) an associated binding international legal agreement for transboundary management of the BCLME and its globally important fisheries. Policy, legislation and operational practices will be amended and realigned at the national level in order to ensure a more regional transboundary management approach to the LME. Specific support will be provided to improve capacities for sustainability through training and institutional strengthening, the adoption of appropriate financial mechanisms alongside partnership agreements, and more effective stakeholder participation throughout all sectors with a specific emphasis toward community inputs. The project will also focus on capturing knowledge products and their distribution and replication both within the BCLME region and beyond. This will be linked to an appropriate networking mechanism for LMEs. The successful realisation of Project outcomes would be measured through appropriate deliverables and achievements following GEF monitoring and evaluation (M&E) guidance. To this effect, a principal component of the intended Project would be the establishment of measurable International Waters (IW) indicators within an effective M&E framework, which will be incorporated into the BCLME as an intrinsic on-going activity within the work of the Commission. The end-of-project landscape will evidence a halt to and reversal in the decline of fisheries with the BCLME along with effective conservation and management measures to mitigate degradation of the ecosystem as a whole.　

Table 1: Project outcomes

Table 2: Project Budget

Selected Partners

• World Food Programme
• Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (Namibia)
• South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation
• Southern African Development Community
• United Nations Development Programme
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
• Food and Agricultural Organisation (United Nations)

Funding is provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)

www.thegef.org/gef/gef_country_prg/NA

Contact Details:

C/O Executive Secretary:

Benguela Current Commission