In 2008, the participating institutions have progressed in the establishment of the national clearinghouses and have gone online. The national data and information clearinghouses feed into the science-policy continuum and continue to be updated with spatial data, cruise ship data, documents and imagery including satellite derived images and aerial photographs.

The data content is classified into six policy relevant categories that include climate change and mitigation; ecosystem management; environmental disaster and conflicts; harmful substances and hazardous wastes; policies, agreements, acts and legislation, and sustainable consumption and production.

In accordance with Decision 4/8 of the contracting parties to the Convention, the Nairobi Convention Clearinghouse goal is to improve the coordination and participation of the Western Indian Ocean countries in implementing the Convention for the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment of Eastern Africa Region. UNEP is supporting the implementation of national data and information clearinghouses nodes in Comoros, Kenya, France-Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania.