Activities Flanders-Kenyan cooperation: conference, website and photo archive

From the 27th till the 29th of October 2014  KMFRI organised the internationale conferenceSustainable use of marine and coastal resources in Kenya: from research to societal benefits’. This in partnership with Ghent University, the Free University of Brussels and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and with the financial support of the VLIOZ-UOS. The conference tackled the critical challenges Kenya is facing for the sustainable development of the coast and ocean such as overexploitation of fisheries resources, mangrove degradation, climate change, Marine Protected Area management and aquaculture development. All output of the conference (flyer, programme, presentations, pictures …) are made digitally available via http://www.vliz.be/kenya/conference-output. The Book of abstracts and the Proceedings of the conferentie are both gepublished in the series VLIZ Special Publication, respectively as nr. 70 and nr. 72.
 
The conference was dedicated to the late Prof. Philip Polk. He started in 1984 with the Kenya-Belgium Project (KBP) and so stimulated an intense cooperation between both countries in the field of marine sciences. On the website www.vliz.be/kenya - developed and hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute - the sea and coastal research performed since then is being documented. Next to an extensive bibliography (search engine and full texts to downlaoad via this link), a data portal, a timeline and a collection of historical pictures, one can also find a collection of professional pictures of this coastal region. The high resolution pictures by nature photographer Misjel Decleer are freely available for further use (under the condition of correct mentioning of credits).  Other activities stimulated by the coorperation (communication and outreach, capacity building, projects and field work) are documented on www.vliz.be/kenya/activities.
 
The Flemish Interuniversity Council - University Development Cooperation (VIR-UOS) published the VLIR-UOS 'Country Strategy for Kenya'. It identifies the following main themes for future interventions in the cooperation with Kenya:
•             Health. Sub-themes: reproductive health, public health, phytomedicine, disease surveillance, etc.
•             Natural resources management and development. Sub-themes: water resources, biodiversity, textile, oil and gas exploitation, etc.
•             Food security. Sub-themes: food production (agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry), fisheries, food processing and marketing, food safety, etc.
The Country Strategy and other relevant documents can be downloaded from the VLIR-UOS website.