On 28 May 2003, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) held a meeting on “Private Sector Tourism Involvement in Marine Conservation In Africa. The meeting, hosted at Conservation International and chaired by Philipp Goeltenboth of World Wildlife Fund, provided an opportunity to share information and discuss examples of current marine tourism development activities by conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and partners.Through presentations, the meeting explored: Engaging Tourism Companies in Marine Conservation: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Perspective; Ecotourism as a Means of Promoting Sustainable Conservation and Land Management: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Perspective; Medium-Scale Private Sector Engagement in Conservation from the East African Coast; and Marine Conservation as a Business: The Arabuko – Watamu Experiences.

The objectives of the meeting were to: Discuss how to engage the private sector in conservation in coastal and marine areas; Learn about potential problems; and Explore issues of scale and current market trends in tourism development.