Chumbe Island Coral Park Education Centre

Work Areas

Main CEPA work area

To promote gender equality, CHICOP prioritises the employment of women and focuses on hiring from local communities. Currently, 97% of CHICOP’s staff come from local communities, with 50% women working in various roles and departments across the organisation. Now 47 staff members are working for CHICOP.

CHICOP is the flagship project for sustainable tourism in Zanzibar. Placing it on the global map for Blue Solutions, sustainable tourism and Blue Economy Development. Through workshops, participation of events and presentations, CHICOP raises awareness about the importance of eco-tourism in the region. As a launching partner of the Zanzibar Declaration on Sustainable Tourism, CHICOP actively contributes to responsible tourism at a destination level. CHICOP developed a Green Destination campaign in 2021 including workshops and free resources to build a more resilient, eco-friendly, inclusive and responsible tourism sector within Zanzibar. In 2024, CHICOP launched the Zanzibar Sustainable Seafood Guide, offering tourism establishments a valuable resource to help them make more informed and sustainable seafood choices.

Through the environmental education programme, awareness around the importance of these environments and sustainable practices has been raised. Since the project began, over 13,000 participants have come to Chumbe to experience the environment first hand. In addition, the CHICOP EE programme has conducted targeted courses, such as Women Ranger Training programmes, a Youth Conservation Ambassador programme, community outreach programmes, teacher trainings and have run an Eco-school conservation award programme for local schools.

Top three successes

Rat eradication: One of the primary projects upon commencement in the 90s was the eradication of rats from the island, an undertaking that took over two years of baiting and trapping. Post trapping resulted in an increase terrestrial biodiversity, with the CFR now host to 80 species of bird, 5 reptiles and a healthy population of coconut crabs (Birgus latro), the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod.

No-take Zone MPA: protected from destructive fishing practices, the reef has seen recoveries of up to 80 percent live hard coral cover and 59 genera of hard coral species recorded, providing habitat for 529 species of reef fish and 257 reef-based invertebrate species identified in the sanctuary (Carter, 2017). Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and critically endangered Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are supported with foraging grounds that include seven different seagrass species.

Top three challenges

For over 30 years, CHICOP has focused on three core projects: protection of the Coral Reef Sanctuary (CRS), management of the Chumbe Forest Reserve (CFR), and delivery of an environmental education programme. Each has achieved significant success since inception. However, escalating climate change impacts, particularly coral bleaching, pose our greatest challenge, undermining management effectiveness and contributing to declines in coral cover.