Projects

• Re-establish a regular, accountable patrol presence, co-delivered by WCF rangers and the park's two resident communities, so that compliance rests on locally agreed rules rather than enforcement alone.

• 72 joint WCF–community marine patrols over 12 months (about 6 per month)
• Park patrol boat and engine restored and operational
• Awareness campaign, signage and mooring buoys at reef anchorages in place before regular patrols begin
• Written community reference documents agreed in Dungonab and Mohamed Qol
• Standardised patrol logs and turtle nesting data feeding the park's Integrated Management Plan and World Heritage reporting

• Strengthen management effectiveness of both marine national parks through METT assessments and adaptive management
• Develop and enforce dive operator regulations, a permit system, and code of conduct for SMNP
• Support livelihood diversification for Beja communities in Dungonab and Mohammed Qol (Component 3)
• Deploy reef mooring buoys at Sanganeb key dive sites to eliminate anchor damage to corals
• Gender mainstreaming and monitoring & evaluation framework across protected area management (Component 4)

• Project launched October 2021 at signing ceremony in Port Sudan
• Dive operator code of conduct and permit system in development
• Community ecotourism pilots active in Dungonab Bay
• Mooring buoy deployment at Sanganeb planned (2025)
• GEF grant: US$4.1M | UNDP TRAC: US$500K | Total UNDP-administered budget: US$4.6M across four Sudan protected areas

• Strengthen the operational capacity of the WCGA Marine Protected Areas Division (WCGA-MPAD)
• Develop a sustainable ecotourism framework for both marine parks
• Deliver park boundary and informational signage for SMNP and DMNP
• Support gender-sensitive community engagement with Beja fishing communities in Dungonab and Mohammed Qol
• Contribute data and analysis to the UNESCO World Heritage Integrated Management Plan 2017–2021

• Procurement and delivery of two patrol boats and safety equipment to WCGA-MPAD
• Design and installation of park boundary signage and entrance signboards for SMNP and DMNP
• Community ecotourism feasibility framework produced
• Data contributed directly to the UNESCO World Heritage Integrated Management Plan 2017–2021
• "Did You Know?" Sudan Red Sea public awareness campaign launched (2017)
• Dungonab community children participated in UN General Assembly World Ocean Day event (2017)

• Establish baseline data on shark and ray movements, behaviour, and population structure in Sudanese Red Sea waters
• Deploy a 38-monitor passive acoustic array across 130 km of coastline from Sanganeb to Abington Reef
• Conduct satellite telemetry of reef manta rays (Manta alfredi) to assess home range and MPA boundary effectiveness
• Build national scientific capacity through training of WCGA staff and Red Sea University researchers
• Run the "Divers Aware of Sharks" (DAS) citizen science programme with Sudanese dive operators

• 22 manta rays tagged — first acoustic implantation and dorsal satellite-tag attachment in manta rays globally
• 35 genetic samples collected; first confirmation of both Manta alfredi and Manta birostris co-existing in DMNP
• 98.5% of satellite-tracked manta ray locations fell within MPA boundaries — confirming spatial appropriateness of DMNP designation
• Acoustic array operational for multi-year passive monitoring across both parks
• Peer-reviewed publication: Kessel et al. (2017) PLoS ONE — confirming MPA boundaries protect manta ray habitat

• Conduct a legal review of Sudan's MPA governance and regulatory framework
• Prepare an updated management plan for Dungonab Bay–Mukkawar Island National Park (Klaus 2016)
• Produce the Integrated Management Plan 2017–2021 for the serial UNESCO World Heritage site
• Support coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove habitat monitoring through Red Sea University
• Build the capacity of WCGA staff in MPA monitoring and management methodologies

• Updated management plan for DMNP completed and adopted (Klaus 2016)
• Integrated Management Plan 2017–2021 for the SMNP–DMNP World Heritage site delivered — the foundational park management document currently in force
• Comprehensive monitoring data on coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves, and macroinvertebrate communities produced
• Legal and governance framework review completed
• Data informed the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment

• Document sea turtle nesting activity on the sandy beaches of Mukkawar Island
• Establish a quantitative baseline nest count for green (Chelonia mydas, EN), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata, CR), and loggerhead (Caretta caretta, VU) turtles
• Contribute nesting data to the global SWOT (State of the World's Sea Turtles) monitoring database

• Nesting survey methodology established at Mukkawar Island
• Data actively being contributed to the SWOT global monitoring database
• Mukkawar Island confirmed as a sea turtle nesting site of regional significance

• Survey renewable marine resources in Red Sea State waters, including areas within and adjacent to the marine national parks
• Provide fisheries baseline data to support sustainable resource management planning for coastal communities

• Survey completed 2013; fisheries and marine resource data produced for Red Sea State
• Data contributed to the broader Red Sea State marine resource management knowledge base, informing subsequent MPA planning

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