afrol News, 8 October - Penning down of signatures by 15 African states will ensure greater protection of dolphins, small whales and manatees living in waters off West Africa or islands in mid-Atlantic Ocean, under a United Nations-backed treaty that aims to conserve wildlife and habitats.

A memorandum of understanding with Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) came into effect last Friday immediately after agreement was signed by 15 countries attending an intergovernmental meeting in Lomé, Togo.

New instrument, which contains two action plans to conserve marine species, is aimed at protecting more than 30 small cetacean species - or aquatic mammals - in an area stretching from waters off Morocco to South Africa.

UN Environment Programme (UNEP), under whose aegis CMS was concluded, has welcomed agreement, calling it a permanent legacy of Year of the Dolphin, which was celebrated last year and then extended to run through 2008.

“It helps to facilitate transboundary cooperation by providing an international platform to negotiate and coordinate research and conservation measures,” UNEP said in a press release issued yesterday.

On the other hand, Robert Hepworth, executive secretary of the CMS, said latest pact is the fourth in a network of regional agreements that aim to conserve migratory cetaceans in key areas of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and Mediterranean Sea.

Agreement officially refers to West Africa and region known as Macaronesia, which includes Cape Verde and other mid-Atlantic island chains, such as Azores and Canary Islands.

“Now we need to encourage Portugal, Spain and remaining Western African Range States to sign the memorandum of understanding,” Mr Hepworth said, stating that would ensure pact applies to an even broader area.

Countries which signed Lome agreement are Angola, Benin, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Togo.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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