A new DLIST site has just been set up for the neighbouring Large Marine Ecosystem programme on the east coast of Africa – the Agulhas and Somali Currents Large Marine Ecosystem. There are 9 countries taking part in the ASCLME programme, including South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, and the Seychelles.

DLIST ASCLME is aiming at working closely with the people along the coasts in these countries to increase the awareness of sustainable resource use, the consequences of destructive fishing methods, the effects of climate change and other environmental processes among people at all levels of the society, including villagers, NGOs and decision makers. DLIST will listen to the resource users on the ground and incorporate their problems and issues into the overall ASCLME programme. This will ensure that the agenda of the people on the ground is heard and taken into account for the future development of the project.

DLIST on the Agulhas & Somali side will make use of the same toolkit that was used in the first stage of the DLIST BCLME. This includes the online distance learning courses of which some will be translated to French and Portuguese and offered at universities within the ASCLME area. Also the online library of useful articles and photos will be available on the new DLIST website, with material relevant for the area. Of course the web-based discussion forum will be a main feature on the DLIST ASCLME website, to encourage active participation in discussions, and to create an active Community of Practice (CoP) in Eastern/Southern Africa as well as the Western Indian Ocean region.

In order to reach those stakeholders who do not have access to internet, other tools such as radio, workshops and the environmental film festival (Earthnotes) will be employed. The travelling film festival contains a mixture of local and international films on the Western Indian Ocean and East African coastal areas. The film festival is ideal for group showings and you can arrange your own film festival as long as you have access to a data projector, by ordering it from the DLIST ASCLME admin team.

To ensure the involvement of the local communities in the ASCLME project, the DLIST team will set up one demonstration site in all the participating countries – with Tanzania being one exception having two sites, and Somalia the other exception not having any demonstration site at all at this stage. The demonstration sites will focus on establishing sustainable two-way communication channels, to increase the level of awareness and to ensure that the local communities can provide their input to the overall ASCLME project.

To share your experiences from DLIST Benguela, and to learn more about the east coast of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean, or learn how you can become involved in this exciting initiative – please visit http://www.dlist-asclme.org/ or contact Frida@ecoafrica.co.za.