A capacity building meeting of 16 marine managers from Dar es Salaam Marine Reserves System (DMRS) and Marine Parks and Reserves Unit (MPRU), with a deep passion for the ocean, took place in the end of October. Intense discussions were held at the four-day workshop on adaptive management. The managers addressed the strength and the possibilities of the marine protected sites of Dar es Salaam. Their brains worked on full power with an eagerness and sense of responsibility to make sure that marine values are protected and managed in an effective way. “We can´t afford to be lazy. We have the mandate and the power to change the outcomes. To make an impact. That impact is needed for our future, but it is needed now!”
Marine Reserves System (DMRs) will be updated. The strategic structure in the existing plan from 2005 is really good. So why is the management poor, the work plans unclear and the marine ecosystems deteriorating? This is the challenge for the DMRS team to solve.
Annette Olsson from FOS Europe and a team from the Swedish Agency of Marine and Water Management (SwAM) facilitated a capacity building workshop on adaptive management during four days in Dar es Salaam, just by the coast of the marine reserves. The DMRS dived deep into the situation analysis of the reserves, in order to understand the threats and the drivers behind these threats, to be able to create the roadmap for the strategies needed to create a positive change in the marine ecosystems.
Dr Sware Semesi, Manager Marine Parks and Reserves Unit & Jenny Hertzman, the Swedish Agency for Marine & Water Management.
For further information, please email jenny.hertzman@havochvatten.se or immaculate.semesi@marineparks.go.tz