The Nairobi Convention and COP12 at Dar es Salaam

From 6 to 9 October 2026, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania hosted the twelfth Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Nairobi Convention, the regional treaty for the marine and coastal environment of the Western Indian Ocean. The meeting marked forty years of regional cooperation under the Convention and closed with fifteen decisions on marine conservation, pollution, ocean governance and the sustainable blue economy.

Dar es Salaam, the host city

Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's largest city and its main commercial centre, a major port on the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa. The conference met at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre. More than 1,600 delegates attended, a sharp rise from the roughly 200 who took part in the previous conference in 2024, alongside United Nations agencies, regional organisations, development partners, researchers, civil society, youth and coastal communities.

What the Nairobi Convention is

The Nairobi Convention is a regional treaty under the United Nations Environment Programme's Regional Seas Programme. It provides the framework for cooperation, coordination and joint action on the ecological and development challenges facing the marine and coastal environment of the Western Indian Ocean. Its work covers marine biodiversity, pollution from land-based and sea-based sources, coastal habitats such as mangroves and seagrasses, climate resilience and the sustainable use of ocean resources.

The Convention has ten Contracting Parties: Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania. India is not a party, but the Western Indian Ocean is directly relevant to India through shipping lanes, fisheries, marine biodiversity and the blue economy of the wider Indian Ocean.

COP12: theme and outcomes

COP12 was held under the theme Towards a Sustainable Blue Economy in the Western Indian Ocean for People and Nature: A Journey of Forty Years. Its fifteen decisions aimed at accelerating action for the protection, management and sustainable development of the region, spanning marine biodiversity, pollution control, ocean governance, climate resilience and the blue economy.

• Critical Habitats Outlook for the Western Indian Ocean, adopted as the region's assessment of the state of its critical marine and coastal habitats.
• Regional Seagrass Strategy 2026–2030, endorsed, with a supporting regional synthesis of knowledge, evidence gaps and conservation priorities drawn from ten country reports.
• Regional Mangrove Vision and Action Plan, endorsed, carrying the region's mangrove commitments from agreement into local action.
• Ocean governance, advanced through the 2025–2035 Integrated Work Programme and work on a Regional Ocean Governance Strategy, with stronger ecosystem monitoring and science-policy links.
• Cooperation on the high-seas biodiversity treaty, with the Convention Secretariat asked to develop a cooperation mechanism with that treaty's Secretariat and with bodies including the International Seabed Authority, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and the International Maritime Organization.

COP12 elected Mauritius as the new Chair of the Bureau of the Nairobi Convention Secretariat. The dates and venue for COP13 are to be communicated after consultations with the Secretariat.

Why it matters for UPSC

• Prelims: the Convention's regional seas character, its ten Contracting Parties, the COP12 dates and venue, the fortieth-anniversary context, the fifteen decisions, and the mangrove and seagrass outcomes.
• Mains: regional ocean governance as a model for shared seas; the blue economy as a balance between protection and livelihoods; and the link between regional seas conventions and global frameworks for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

Key facts