The Program must have an explicit biodiversity objective. It is not enough to have

4 conservation, including zoning plans including no-take zones, national codes of conduct, management agreements, and aquaculture guidelines. Specific activities leading to improved management are: • Formal establishment, management and community-based monitoring of permanent no- take zones in the Menai Bay Conservation area of Zanzibar, Tanzania and the Asseradores Estuary, Nicaragua • Introduction of jewelry shellcraft and half-pearl aquaculture as a more eco-friendly alternative source of food protein oyster and income sale of pearls in communities on the Fumba Peninsula that exploit resources inside the Menai Bay Conservation Area • Reforestation and introduction of improved agroforestry practices in the watershed of the Cojimíes Estuary, Ecuador including buffer areas of the Mache-Chindul Forest Reserve • Adoption of a code of conduct on best management practices for mariculture taking place inside the Estero Real Biosphere Reserve • Adoption of a Code of Good Practices for the Management of Human Activities around the Cojimíes Watershed • At the regional scale, the Western Indian Ocean Certification Program for Marine Protected Area Professionals WIO-COMPAS has certified nine individuals at level 2, with two other individuals working toward completing requirements that would allow them also to be certified; and Certification for Professionals in Coastal Ecosystem Governance in Latin America certified 22 individuals at a level 1, 2, or diploma level— all of whom are working in areas of important biodiversity. Tanzania The waters around Fumba village, located within the Menai Bay Conservation Area on Zanzibar Island of Tanzania, are rich with a biodiversity of fishes, coral reefs, and mollusks. Here, the SUCCESS Program and its partners—including local bivalve collectors mostly women—are addressing the accelerating threat of a depleted bivalve population due to over- harvesting. At the root of the problem is poverty little income to purchase other food protein; inequality females have fewer alternative employment options than males; and local market forces with little market for other income-generating products from Fumba, pressure on this one resource for food and income remains constant. The fact that women need to venture farther and farther into the ocean to collect sufficient bivalves is testament to the overharvesting of this resource. Without intervention, the natural environment will be changed—including a loss of biodiversity—and future generations will lose a valuable food and income source. The SUCCESS Program is working to change this by introducing a zoning scheme—e.g., designating selected areas as “no-take” zones during certain periods—and by introducing half-pearl aquaculture as a more eco-friendly alternative source of food protein oyster and income sale of pearls. Three no-take areas have been formally established by the district and endorsed by the Department of Fisheries in the Menai Bay Conservation Area. There is strong local commitment to implementing this zoning strategy as evidenced by documented improvements on cockle abundance. The jewelry shellcraft and half-pearl culture initiatives are already paying dividends to many local