The Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) programme started in 2002 and is funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). One of its main aims is to address marine and coastal conservation planning in the Benguela region. The region considered under the programme covers Angola, Namibia and South Africa up till Cape Point. Fundamental to conservation planning is a full assessment of the status and threats of biodiversity within the BCLME domain. To this end the BCLME has commissioned the Benguela Environment Fisheries Interaction and Training Programme (BENEFIT) to undertake a biodiversity assessment and mapping research programme. It consists of an overarching "MOM" project and four component projects who interact with and feed into the MOM project. MOM will utilise the information and data collected by the component projects to bring conservation planning to an operational level in each of the three countries.