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Programmes and Projects
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PEMSEA is designed to establish/strengthen the necessary capacities among the participating countries and their national and regional partners, which will transform PEMSEA from a donor-sponsored, regional enabling project into a country-owned, self-sustaining regional mechanism for the implementation of the SDS-SEA. The SDS-SEA is extremely significant as it is the first, and the broadest, partnership agreement in the region on the issue of managing the regional seas.
Functional Regional Mechanism for SDS-SEA Implementation
Regional bodies and programs continue to function within their respective scopes and mandates, relating to the different aspects of the environment, economic development or social issues. Sustainable development of coastal and marine resources of the region continues to be addressed in a piecemeal fashion. Valuable lessons and good practices in coastal and ocean governance, which are available from country-implemented projects, as well as bilateral and multilateral projects, as well as from outside the region, are largely unknown or inaccessible to countries.
National Policies and Reforms for Sustainable Coastal and Ocean Governance
After 12 years of PEMSEA and other GEF IW initiatives in the region, there is an appreciation among EAS countries on the need for comprehensive and responsive national coastal and marine policies to govern the management of resources and sectoral activities, in order to avoid conflicting uses of marine and coastal resources. More advanced countries have taken steps to develop and implement cross-sectoral national coastal and ocean policies.
Scaling up ICM Programs
Coastal resource management initiatives continue to evolve as improvements in approaches and capacities are driven primarily by bilateral initiatives. Although some countries have developed and adopted ICM policy and legislation, there is limited capacity to scale up and manage national ICM programs.
Twinning Arrangements for River Basin and Coastal Area Management
Ecosystem-based management projects in Bohai Sea, Manila Bay, Gulf of Thailand and Jakarta Bay operate in isolation. They and their partners fail to either capitalize on others’ wisdom or to replicate their successful activities. Without access to valuable information and good practices generated by others, these projects continue to re-invent the wheel and do not contribute to global learning to strengthen transboundary waters management.
Intellectual Capital and Human Resources
Governments, donors, and UN and other international organizations implement numerous country and sub-regional capacity enhancement projects covering areas/issues such as environmental research, development of strategic plans, transferring skills, and building awareness and understanding. While contributing to the overall regional capacity, such projects remain short-term, sector specific and relatively isolated from mainstream management programs. Capacity disparity remains a challenge of governments in SDS-SEA implementation, including ineffective transfer and sharing of knowledge that strengthens management programs. Project managers and stakeholders at different levels must discover and actively seek out intellectual capital within their own country, or within the region, to learn lessons and access technical support and assistance. This results in further reliance on donors and international agencies and organizations to ‘provide’ the required expertise.
Investment and Financing
Unavailable or inadequate financial resources and capacity is often cited for the lack of water supply, sanitation, solid waste and wastewater management facilities. The public-private partnership (PPP) approach has been promoted at a number of ICM sites, to allow the public sector to leverage more financial resources and technical and managerial expertise by using the private sector as an intermediary. PEMSEA promotes various mechanisms to facilitate revenue generation.
Strategic Partnership Arrangements
UNDP, World Bank, UNEP and other international stakeholders in the region occasionally interact with the countries and each other on marine and coastal governance matters, but there is little focus, strategic outreach, or systematic effort to benefit the efforts of stakeholders across the full scope and objectives of the SDS-SEA. The SDS-SEA implementation program is only partially supported by existing GEF IW funds and individual governments, and there is a disjoint in the priorities and programs of international stakeholders and donors with the overall priorities and strategies of the countries and their commitments to SDS-SEA. The benefits derived from bilateral projects are not seen as collectively contributing to transboundary waters-related issues and sustainable development targets of the region.
The National Course on Governance and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
