The Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol to the Amended Nairobi Convention is being developed pursuant to decision CP6/3.3 of the Sixth Conference of Parties of the Nairobi Convention (COP6) to strengthen the legal framework of the Nairobi Convention for a more effective management of marine and coastal ecosystems across sectors and national boundaries to achieve sustainable development. Pursuant to the decision the Nairobi Convention in partnership with the Indian Ocean Commission organised seven intergovernmental meetings of the Ad hoc Legal and Technical Working Group on ICZM to develop the protocol that will provide a framework for addressing a number of threats to marine and coastal environment. The threats include anthropogenic pressures such as growing intensity of human settlements and unsustainable socioeconomic activities; natural disasters and climate change; and lack of adequate coordination of various sectors that have contributed to the haphazard coastal development, habitat degradation and a decline in ecosystem services in the WIO region. At their seventh meeting (LTWG7) held in Maputo, Mozambique on 6 to 8 August 2012, the Ad hoc Legal and Technical Working Group on ICZM concluded the drafting of the protocol and prepared the Seventh Draft ICZM Protocol to the Amended Nairobi Convention. The experts recommended the draft text for consideration by the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention during the Seventh Conference of Parties to the Nairobi Convention (COP7) for a decision on the next steps that will include negotiations, and adoption of the text negotiated text by a Conference of plenipotentiaries. The LTWG7 also considered and approved Draft Guidelines for Drafters and Negotiators of the Protocol on ICZM to the Nairobi Convention. The purpose of the guidelines is to assist drafters and negotiators to have common conceptual and textual understanding of the various issues covered in the proposed protocol. It is envisaged that the guidelines will support the remaining phases of consultation, drafting and negotiation of the Protocol. The draft guidelines are presented to the COP7 for noting.