Source: European Union, Sept. 2025

The €59 million West Africa Sustainable Ocean Programme (WASOP), funded by the European Union, aims to improve the sustainable and integrated use of ocean resources in West Africa by stimulating inclusive economic growth. This 5-year program (2024-2029) covers 13 West African countries: Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The West African Sustainable Ocean Program (WASOP) aims to strengthen the protection and conservation of the marine environment and promote the sustainable and integrated use of ocean resources in West Africa, stimulating inclusive economic growth. It addresses the degradation of natural ocean resources and climate change, which are exacerbating social, economic and environmental tensions in West Africa. WASOP has three main areas of intervention:

  1. Ocean Governance, implemented by the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and two sub-regional fisheries commissions: SRFC and CPCO;
  2. Sustainable and inclusive blue economy, implemented by Expertise France ;
  3. Protection and restoration of ecosystems, implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature

 

West African Sustainable Ocean Program (WASOP) | EEAS