Situation analysis

This situation analysis was undertaken to inform responses to several resolutions made at the 5th World Conservation Congress in 2012 about the plight of large vertebrates in West and Central Africa. It draws on a wide range of information to provide information on the status of these species, important sites, pressures, legislation, the effectiveness of protected areas, and both community-based incentives for conservation and institutional responses.

Plastic debris has now become the most serious problem affecting the marine environment, not only for coastal areas of developing countries but also for the world's oceans as a whole. Drifiting plastic debris is well recognized as having several adverse effects on marine species and ecosystems, but there is still a lack of precise knowledge about the quantity, sources, transport, accumulation and fate of plastics in the oceans.