COAST

COnservation of mArine ecosystems around Santo AnTão, Cabo Verde: implications for policy and society

Abstract

The Republic of Cabo Verde is an African archipelago, which depends largely on marine resources. Their coastal areas ensure human wellbeing through resources availability (e.g. food) and jobs. However, coastal regions in Cabo Verde are highly exposed to natural hazards and to multiple pressures associated with anthropogenic activities, including reclamation of wetlands for agriculture, water contamination and plastic pollution. They are, thus, in an enormous need for sustainable development of activity sectors linked to the sea, i.e. Blue Growth. Cabo Verde is a country where Blue Growth can help to contribute with solutions for current issues, such as high poverty rates, while building on the long tradition of local economical use of the marine environment. However, no valuable baseline knowledge on the environmental status of their marine ecosystems is available, hampering the development of measures ensuring their sustainable use, management, conservation and restoration. Information on marine habitats for this archipelago is scarce, and there is no integrated evaluation of marine resources to support knowledge-based regulations and guidelines for their sustainable use, in line with the national development trends. Santo Antão has the highest poverty rate of the Archipelago, and income inequalities, and is highly vulnerable to extreme natural phenomena (e.g. droughts, tropical cyclones).COAST will evaluate the vulnerability of the studied marine communities and create pilot conservation and restoration actions for selected degraded ecosystems, to increase their resilience. The project will provide multidisciplinary understanding about the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as suitable indicators of recovery, which is the crucial basis to establish sound conservation or restoration measures. These are the pillars upon which conservation and restoration are to be built, allowing for implementation of integrated environmental management actions based on the best scientific knowledge.

Reference documents

For more details on the work plan and expected impact of the project and other projects funded in response to the BiodivRestore joint call consult:

Keywords: Benthic habitats, Habitat mapping, Marine litter, Ecosystem functioning, Climate change, Macronesia, Foodwebs, Biodiversity, Ocean literacy, Restoration