The Western Indian Ocean Marine Protected Areas Management Network (WIOMPAN) is a network of MPA practitioners in the WIO. The Network brings together MPA practitioners from 10 countries in the WIO – Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Somalia, Madagascar and Reunion (France).
The Network’s mission is to facilitate exchanges between WIO MPA practitioners to deal with common issues in different local contexts. MPAs in the WIO context include all formal marine protected and managed areas under government, communities (LMMAs) and privately managed MPAs.
WiMS was launched in order to address the gender equality issues facing women marine scientists in the Western Indian Ocean region.
WIOMSA believes that better networking amongst these women are critical to address these issues. A network of this kind brings them together to discuss issues of common interest and identify priority issues for action. It also provides them with a platform where they can plan activities and speak with one voice on issues of their concern.
WIO-ECSN is an initiative to promote scientific research through fostering strong regional ties among early career scientists and representing their collective scientific interests at an international level.
The main purpose of the WIO-ECSN is to communicate research priorities from the views of early career scientists to the scientific leadership of the WIO region, as well as to provide a platform for facilitating interdisciplinary and regional research collaborations.