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Addressing Climate Change in the
Western Indian Ocean region
Julius Francis
Executive Secretary,
Western Indian Ocean Marine
Science Association (WIOMSA)
Outline
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Background of WIOMSA
Climate change and Ports industry
What is WIOMSA doing
Potential areas of collaboration
Objectives of WIOMSA
 Fostering research excellence
 Developing expertise for effective
management
 Raising awareness and enhancing
access to knowledge and information
 Promoting networking, cooperation and
exchange
 Promoting and advocating appropriate
policies and practices
Implement a series of activities that are designed to gradually and systematically
build and strengthen human and institutional research capacities to conduct
research and translate their results into actions that contribute to the well-being of
the people of the region.
Mechanisms
Research
grants
-Competitive grants
Activities
-Commissioned grants
-Planning grants
Capacity
Building
-Training
Courses
- writing
workshops
Communication
& dissemination
Partnerships
& Networks
- Policy briefs
- Biennial
Symposiums
- Partnerships
-Networks
Climate change and Ports
Industry
 “Warming of the climate system is
unequivocal, as is now evident from
observations of increases in global
average air and ocean temperatures,
widespread melting of snow and ice, and
rising global average sea level”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment
Report 2007
Climate change and Ports
industry
Key findings
 Sea surface temperatures (SST) have increased
over the 20th century in the western Indian Ocean
(WIO) with the most prominent SST increases by
0.25 and 0.75oC occurring after 1976.
 Global sea levels have risen by 20 cm over 18702004. Sea level rises are not uniform across the
Indian Ocean
• Intensity of cyclones. Period between 1994 to
2007, the intensity upon landfall of the cyclones
increased.
 Warming of Indian Ocean is reducing rainfall in
many eastern and southern African countries.
Warming in the tropical Indian Ocean can draw
moisture away from Africa, reducing rainfall
Potential Impacts on ports
operations
 Sea level rise – coastal flooding;
breaching of protective barriers and
restricted access to ports and challenge to
service reliability. Increased dredging and
changes in water levels in harbours.
 Climate change may increase the severity
of cyclones and shifting zones of
storminess. This may increase the number
of port operation closures and increased
damage to ships as a result of wavecurrent interaction
What is WIOMSA doing?
 Consultancy - to assess the situation in the
coastal and marine areas of the WIO region in
relation to climate change, identify existing climate
change response measures, and make an
assessment of the key lessons that such existing
response measures have to offer.
 Regional Conference - Conference on “Climate
Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation in the
Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region: Solutions to
the Crisis”, Grand Baie, Mauritius from 21 – 23
March 2011.
 Providing research grants – supporting eleven
research projects covering all nine countries in the
region
Potential areas of
collaboration
• Impacts
• Mitigation&
Adaptation
Quantify the impacts
of climate change on
major ports and its
operations
To mitigate impacts
of climate change,
there is a need to
understand the
adaptation options
available
Thank you for your
attention!!