The Indian Ocean Seagrass Mapping Project aims to build upon the success of Pew’s Seychelles Seagrass Mapping Project which developed the first ever field-verified map of Seychelles’ seagrass ecosystems across the country’s 1.3 million km² EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). Seagrasses are an under-mapped (and consequently under-protected) ecosystem compared to other coastal ecosystems, and verified maps allow for better protection while also creating the enabling conditions for inclusion into policies like the nationally determined contributions (NDC) to the Paris Agreement. Pew’s project to map seagrasses in the entire Indian Ocean by 2026 includes field verification in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar along with non-field verified mapping by remote sensing for the remaining coastlines in the Eastern Indian Ocean.

The field verification of seagrass maps in the WIO involves coordination among various groups across WIO countries, including research institutions, government bodies, conservation organizations and researchers/staff at the University of Oxford, and Pew who is funding the project. This work also includes capacity strengthening workshops around seagrass and NDCs. WIOMSA coordinates field teams who collect field validation data, plans and executes regional/national seagrass workshops, represents the Project in regional fora, and assists in the creation of communications materials to promote the Project.