Report of the Second Meeting of the Biodiversity, Habitat and Water Quality Working Group

The second meeting of Biodiversity, Habitat and Water Quality, subject of this report, was organized in Banjul (The Gambia) from 12 to 14 March 2013. All representatives of the countries (except from Morocco) as well as the RCU URC and the project partners were able to participate. The meeting was organized under the theme "CCLME Coastal and marine habitats: a major challenge for a Large Marine Ecosystem." It aimed to contribute to the development of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and initiate a process to lead to the preparation of a management and monitoring of critical habitats plan in the region. This activity of identification and location of the various coastal and marine habitats has allowed the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) to begin the mapping of habitats and biodiversity in the CCLME region. All the country representatives and partners attending the meeting produced communications related to the theme. This demonstrated the great diversity of habitats both coastal and marine that characterize this ecosystem and explain its high productivity, one of the largest in the LME world. Particular emphasis was placed on mangroves through the progress of the CCLME project of demonstration No. 5 where works on the rehabilitation of mangroves have been made in Guinea Bissau and The Gambia, the majority of field studies has also been implemented. The Mangrove charter developed in the framework of the West African Regional Marine and Coastal Conservation Partnership (PRCM) for the West African sub-region and its origins have also been the subject of a communication. The spatial tool developed for the region by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) and the scope of which is to show and to follow the spatial and temporal distribution was detailed with all the features and services that it could offer. Ownership by the partners in the region will be made by the completion of an internship to benefit the partners supposed to use it, especially Wetlands International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.