Reef Restoration Workshop – Zanzibar, 2024

In July 2024, The Nature Conservancy in Africa hosted Reef Restoration Initiatives in the Western Indian Ocean for Lesson Sharing, Capacity-building and Networking, a three-day regional workshop on Unguja Island, Zanzibar. Forty-one reef restoration practitioners attended, including fisher community members, MPA managers, scientists, policy makers, the private sector, government agencies, and NGOs from the region. The goal of the workshop was to bring together reef restoration practitioners in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) to learn and share experiences and best practices on coral reef restoration and establish a regional reef restoration network. The broader project aims at scaling-up coral reef restoration initiatives in the WIO to enhance fisheries and biodiversity conservation and improve the management of marine areas.

Workshop objectives included:

• Share lessons on coral reef restoration initiatives in the WIO.
• Establish a WIO Coral Reef Restoration Network to enhance capacity and skills for reef restoration practitioners.
• Facilitate capacity-building through discussions and shared experiences around key coral reef restoration topics.

Workshop highlights included collaborative learning and capacity building. A WIO Coral Reef Restoration Network was also established with the following objectives:

• Foster national, regional, and global collaboration and connections.
• Build network members’ capacity and skills on reef restoration best practices.
• Facilitate sharing and creation of knowledge, science, and coral reef interventions between practitioners within the WIO and globally.
• Advance supporting actions such as policy advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, funding opportunities, and career development.

The Nature Conservancy funded the workshop, which was co-hosted by the Reef Resilience Network, the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), Mwambao Coastal Community Network (Tanzania), Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT-Coast), Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Coral Restoration Consortium, Kenya Wildlife Service, University of Mauritius, and Université de Toliara.

A group of NGOs, government agencies, academics, and community members came together in Zanzibar to chart a path forward for a Western Indian Ocean Coral Reef Restoration Network. Photo © Joshua Oginda/NRT