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In early November, IOSEA Coordinator Douglas
Hykle attended the Joint Conferences of
the Parties of the Nairobi and Abidjan
Conventions in Johannesburg, South Africa,
on behalf of the Convention on Migratory
Species (CMS). The meetings afforded an
unexpectedly rich opportunity to discuss
various aspects of IOSEA work with a number
of participants, among them:
Alf
Wills, South Africa - Deputy
Director-General, International Cooperation,
Department of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism (and IOSEA Focal
Point for South Africa). He and other
members of the South African delegation
facilitated their Minister’s signature
of the CMS MoU for marine turtles of the
Atlantic coast of Africa, and helped to
secure a positive decision on the establishment
of the WIO-Marine Turtle Task Force.
Ronel
Nel, South Africa, interim
chair of the WIO-MTTF, gave a
presentation on the background of the
task force and discussed a way forward
for the organisation of its first meeting.
Marc
Fagot, Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable
Development, France,
consulted with colleagues in Paris to
ascertain the status of French deliberations
to sign the IOSEA MoU. Apparently the
answer to this question, which has been
pending for several years, lies somewhere
between the Ministry of Agriculture and
the European Commission.
M.
Farid Anasse, Comoros –
Chef de Department SIG and Nairobi
Convention Focal Point, responded favorably
to a proposal to contact higher authorities
in Comoros with a request to designate
an official Focal Point for IOSEA, now
that Mme Fatouma Abdullah has taken up
a new post with UNDP.
Policarpo
Napica – Director of Environmental
Management, in the Ministry of
Coordination of Environmental Affairs,
Mozambique, discussed
opportunities to arrange for signature
of IOSEA in the light of an internal agreement
in principle reached earlier this year.
Abdullah
Issa Lasarooni, Permanent Secretary
of the interim government of Somalia’s
Ministry of Environment
and Eng. Abdirahman Galair,
of the NGO Regional Marine Conservation
Organisation (RMCO –
discussed ways of involving and supporting
actors trying to work on marine conservation
in that country.
Amani
Ngusaru, manager of a WWF-Tanzania’s
substantial East African Marine Ecosystem
(EAME) project expressed genuine interest
in partnering with IOSEA and other actors
to promote efficient and coordinated marine
turtle conservation in the Western Indian
Ocean.
Remi
Ratsimbazafy, WWF Madagascar
– discussed ways that WWF might
facilitate the exchange of information
on turtle conservation efforts within
Madagascar, with an initial focus on compiling
information for possible inclusion in
a national report.
Cristina
Louro, Centro Terra Viva
(a Mozambique-based NGO) returned to her
home country earlier this year after an
enriching experience in Australia, and
is well-positioned to add to her already
important contribution to marine turtle
conservation in Mozambique.
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Also
in November, the Secretariat continued
its dialogue with a number of other Signatory
States, encouraging them to update aspects
of their online national reports, with
particular attention given this month
to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Eritrea, India,
Iran, Kenya, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam and United States.
The
Master copy of the IOSEA DVD “Sea
Turtles: Our Ocean Ambassadors”
has been finalized and delivered, and
production has commenced for expected
delivery and final distribution in December.
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On
6 November 2007, the South African Minister
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
H. E. Marthinus van Schalkwyk signed the
Memorandum of Understanding concerning
Conservation Measures for Marine Turtles
of the Atlantic Coast of Africa - a sister
agreement to the IOSEA MoU, which was
developed under the Convention on Migratory
Species (CMS) between 1999 and 2002. 
