The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region is renowned for the attractiveness of its coastal zones, high marine biodiversity and rich marine and coastal resources. Yet the countries of the region, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, and Seychelles, are impoverished, and during the last couple of decades signs of environmental degradation, as well as a decline in natural resources and biodiversity, have become more and more obvious. The environments of the region are threatened by a variety of human activities. Poverty combined with rapid population growth and a poor understanding and management of coastal resources has resulted in a number of environment and resource use problems, including habitat destruction, overexploitation of fisheries resources, human-induced erosion and pollution.