The Abidjan Convention will organize a Conference of Parties (COP) on March 27 – 31, 2017. The COP12 themed “Integrated Ocean Management Policies in Africa” will bring partners together to discuss coastal resilience through corporation in the protection, management and development of marine and coastal environment. WA BiCC, as a partner to the Abidjan Convention, will organize 4 side events at the COP12 in the areas of monitoring and evaluation, vulnerability assessment, endangered aquatic species and organizational network analysis.

Objectives: The Objectives with respect to the four main sub-events include:

1. Enhance appreciation for Monitoring and Evaluation systems as a significant tool for assessing growth and development amongst institutions.

2. Raise awareness of coastal initiatives across West Africa and discuss challenges and opportunities for increasing climate change resiliency in the sub-region.

3. Raise awareness on flagship aquatic species and best practices for management and conservation

4. Explore existing network channels of information sharing amongst partner institutions and generate discussions on options for the establishment of an effective resource center.

What you can do:

Join the conversation! Help WA BiCC spread the word by:

• Posting on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn about the WA BiCC side events and the ongoing COP12.

• Follow WA BiCC’s and partners’ accounts and retweet or like posts.

• Use event hashtags and general hashtags in your posts and tweets.

• Use photos in your posts. They get more attention!

Join the Conversation: Our Social Media Accounts

Twitter and Facebook: @WABICCNews

LinkedIn: West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC)

Event Hashtags:

Abidjan Convention: #ABCCoP12

WA BiCC – Side Events: #WABICCCoP12

Important Individuals and Organizations to Follow (Twitter and Facebook usernames

WA BiCC: @WABiCCnews @WABiCCNews

ECOWAS: @ecowas_cedeao @Ecowas

United States Agency for International Development (USAID): @USAID

Tetra Tech (International Development Services): @TetraTechIntDev @TetraTechIntDev

Palladium: @palladiumimpact @palladiumimpact

Convention on Biological Diversity: @CBDNews

UN Food and Agriculture Organization: FAOnews @UNFAO

Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals @BonnConvention @BonnConvention

SOS Cote d’Ivoire: @sos.cotedivoire.3

OCEANCARE: @OCEANCARE @oceancare.org

PCI Media Impact: @PCIMediaImpact @PCIMediaImpact

Pact World Inc.: @pactworld @pactworld

Abidjan Convention @UnepAbc PNUE-Convention d'Abidjan

United Nations Environment @UNEP @UNEP

Sample Facebook Posts

Cross-promotion technique: Reshare/Retweet the original post from WABiCCNews Facebook and Twitter pages. You must go to the original post, and click the ‘Share button’ on the end of the post, as you see below in the example. If you are posting on your company Facebook page, make sure your user settings are on the company homepage, and not on your personal. You can change it by adjusting the settings on the little square icon on the bottom right hand corner with the arrow pointing downwards. Please see below for an example.

1. The Abidjan Convention #ABCCoP12 hosts the 12th Conference of Parties on March 27 – 31, 2017. The #COP12 themed “Integrated Ocean Management Policies in Africa” will bring partners together to discuss coastal resilience through corporation in the protection, management and development of marine and coastal environment. Get interactive with all the Conference updates @WABICCNEWS #ABCCoP12

2. #WABICCAbCCOP12 will host experts in a side event on the harvesting of endangered, threatened or protected (ETP) aquatic species. The event will discuss protecting marine wildlife and developing an action plan to combat illegal marine activities #ABCCoP12

3. Fishing methods are major threats to the sustainability of marine mammals. Some fishermen use walls of netting to target particular fishes, but other larger fishes often get tangled in the nets and drown. A discussion on endangered aquatic species will create awareness against the crude fishing methods. https://goo.gl/d6c4Ia #WABICCCoP12

4. The illegal trading of endangered aquatic species contributes to their extinction. Pink dolphins can produce oil and this economic value of the produce is unit worth $1700 https://goo.gl/CQsXi8. A collective action to fight poachers will guarantee the survival of the dolphins. https://goo.gl/CQsXi8 #WABICCCoP12

5. Marine law enforcers need to be empowered in order to combat poaching of endangered aquatic species. Angry fishermen attack officials in an attempt to save the vaquita (https://goo.gl/mvcJX4 ). Extensive education is needed to help people understand the relevance of saving endangered species from extinction. #WABICCCoP12

6. Consumers of marine foods have the power to save endangered aquatic species from extinction. The demand for sustainable seafood will contribute immensely to saving the endangered “aquatic bushmeat”. https://goo.gl/vjzmsQ #WABICCCoP12

7. Coastal landscapes have proven to support communities. Coral reefs and mangroves are crucial for livelihood including fishing, tourism etc. Coastal ecosystems are essential for getting ecosystem services free of charge such as food, wood etc. Coastal climate change resilience will guarantee sustainable livelihoods. https://goo.gl/2Kn9jY #WABICCCoP12

8. Mangroves are plants that connect the land and the sea. Mangroves also have the capacity to mitigate climate change through the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere, and they help protect coastal communities from natural disasters like the hurricane. This and many more are the reasons why we have to collectively develop and protect the mangroves in ameliorating coastal climate change resilience. https://goo.gl/9dBPuV #WABICCCoP12

9. Some coastal communities in West are being swallowed by the sea; Grand-Lahou, a community in Cote D’Ivoire is an example https://goo.gl/mloLkE . The waves are catching up with the land at a rate of about 1 to 2 meters a year. Coastal erosion is a natural event, but its rapid occurrence is attributed to human action. #WABICCCoP12 will discuss relevant action plans to help save coastal communities.

10. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates around 40 billion tons of sand are processed worldwide every year https://goo.gl/NBX4hD. The loss of sand along the beaches of West Africa can be attributed to sand winning activities for construction. Education on the ripping effects on coastal erosion and sand winning can discourage the continuous depletion of the coastal landscape. https://goo.gl/N8vdmd #WABICCCoP12

11. PHOTOS: Effects of coastal erosion on communities in FUVEMEH, Ghana. Climate change in coastal areas is real https://goo.gl/dGH9EO #WABICCCoP12

12. The Abidjan Conventions achieves its mandate of preventing, reducing and controlling of pollution of marine environment, coastal waters and related river waters across the regions in collaboration with partner institutions. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) creates an even platform form common indicators, methodologies and vision for the implementation of mandate with partners. WABICC will educate audiences on the importance of M&E in ensuring better collaboration and improved performance and impact at the #COP12 #WABICCCoP12

13. The Abidjan Conventions achieves its mandate of preventing, reducing and controlling of pollution of marine environment, coastal waters and related river waters across the regions. The mandate strategically positions the Convention in the establishment of a resource centre to develop and share marine information for research, studies and learning. In order to achieve the objective, there is the need for institutional analysis with partners to map and analyse the information sharing network of the Abidjan Convention. #WABICCCoP12

[Share quotes/excerpts from key speakers from the events] #ABCCoP12 #CoP12 @WABiCCnews

14. [Share and express your takeaways from the event] #WABICCCoP12 #COP12

Sample LinkedIn Posts

1. #WABICCAbCCOP12 will host experts in a side event on the harvesting of endangered, threatened or protected (ETP) aquatic species. The event will discuss protecting marine wildlife and developing an action plan to combat illegal marine activities. #COP12 #WABICCCoP12

2. The Abidjan Convention hosts the 12th Conference of Parties (COP) on March 27 – 31, 2017. The #COP12 themed “Integrated Ocean Management Policies in Africa” will bring partners together to discuss coastal resilience through corporation in the protection, management and development of marine and coastal environment. Get interactive with all the Conference updates @WABICCNEWS #WABICCCoP12

Sample Tweets

1. @UnepAbc hosts the 12th Conference of Parties (COP) on March 27 – 31, 2017 on ocean management policies in Africa. #ABCCoP12 #COP12

2. We will host experts in 4 side-events @unepabc #COP12. Follow us #WABICCCoP12 for all the updates.

3. Crude fishing methods are major threats to the sustainability of marine mammals. #WABICCCoP12 will highlight standard fishing methods

4. The trading of endangered aquatic species fuels their extinction. Let's fight poaching #WABICCCoP12 goo.gl/CQsXi8

5. Marine law enforcers require empowerment to combat poaching of endangered aquatic species. goo.gl/mvcJX4 #ABCCoP12

6. Marine food consumers save endangered aquatic species from extinction by changing taste & preference goo.gl/vjzmsQ #WABICCCoP12

7. Coral reefs & mangroves support communities. Protecting coastal landscapes will ensure sustainability goo.gl/2Kn9jY #WABICCCoP12

8. Some coastal communities in West are being swallowed by the sea, mostly by human action. goo.gl/mloLkE #WABICCCoP12

9. PHOTOS: Effects of coastal erosion in Fuvemeh, GH. Climate change in coastal areas is real https://goo.gl/dGH9EO #WABICCCoP12

10. [Share quotes/excerpts from key speakers from the events] #ABCCoP12 #CoP12 @WABiCCnews

11. [Share and express your takeaways from the event] #WABICCCoP12 #COP12 @WABiCCNews

12. @UNEP estimates around 40 billion tons of sand are processed worldwide every year due to sand winning goo.gl/NBX4hD. #COP12