Eastern Africa coast may lose 'most healthy' status

Eastern Africa’s Indian Ocean coast may lose its status as one of the healthiest in the world, experts have warned.

Population increase and establishment of tourism and infrastructure projects within the strip were causing pollution to the ecosystem, they say.

As a result, coastal communities were increasingly becoming vulnerable to climate change induced calamities.

“Marine ecosystems are our safety nets whenever there are hurricanes and cyclones and it is important that we protect them,” Unep director for environmental policy implementation Ibrahim Thiaw said.

He was speaking during a meeting of environmental and marine experts from countries that share the eastern Indian Ocean coast at the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) in Nairobi. The experts are expected to adopt common strategies to protect the marine system.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Mr Thiaw said the countries share marine resources and challenges hence they should harmonise their efforts to protect the ecosystem.

The Unep meeting isolated deteriorating water and sediment quality, physical destruction of crucial coastal habitats, change in fresh water flows and siltation as challenges common to the eastern Africa coast.

Recent findings by Unep showed that 40 million people were living within 25 kilometres of the eastern African coast by 2007, and were directly exposed to effects of declining health of the marine ecosystems.

And the population is increasing rapidly, exerting pressure on the coastal natural resources which communities in urban centres like Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Durban and Maputo depend on for livelihood.

The emerging challenges forced experts to change their focus to land-based sources of pollution and reassess the approaches used by coastal countries in tackling the environmental threats.

Further, they contribute significantly to the economies of countries in the region including Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar islands.

Tourism is a major source of income for the countries directly linked to the marine and coastal environment and natural resources, attracting more than 20 million tourists to the region every year.