It was set up on the initiative of the World Conservation Union - IUCN, the WWF, Wetlands International and the International Foundation for the Banc d’Arguin (FIBA), in partnership with the Subregional Fisheries Commission (CSRP.)

PRCM now represents a coalition of nearly 50 partner institutions with the aim of coordinating conservation action directed at the coastal zone of the subregion’s seaboard countries – Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde.

The purpose of this coordination is to improve the overall relevance and coherence of conservation actions, to pool available resources, make full use of regional expertise, foster exchanges about the experiences, develop research, training, communications and advocacy actions with a view to promoting sustainable coastal zone development which societies will derive benefit from.

Priorities of the programme revolve around:

• The support for the establishment and strengthening of Marine Protected Areas
• The conservation and management of habitats and species
• Fisheries management
• MPAs contribution to the development of Ecotourism
• Hydrocarbons and conservation
• Research
• Communications