BCC: Benguela Current Convention

The Benguela Current Convention (BCC) is a tripartite international body established by the governments of South Africa, Namibia, and Angola, with the mandate to foster cooperation in the protection and sustainable use of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (LME). It grew out of the BCLME Programme, established in the early 2000s and initially funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as one of many Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) projects in different parts of the world. The BCLME established a tripartite partnership body that was, at the time, called the Benguela Current Commission, and facilitated the development of the 2013 Benguela Current Convention. This trilateral treaty formalised the BCC as a permanent international body (renamed the Benguela Current Convention, after the treaty itself). The BCC Secretariat is based in Swakopmund, Namibia. In some ways, the BCC can be regarded as equivalent to independent RSCAPs (regional seas conventions and action plans), albeit with a geographic scope defined by a Large Marine Ecosystem. The BCLME overlaps with the geographical scope of the Abidjan Convention, a wider regional seas convention covering the West African seabord, part of UNEPs Regional Seas Programme.