Held back-to-back with the 25th Meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Water Resources Management (AWGWRM), the Third Regional Steering Committee (RSC) Meeting of the GEF/UNDP/ASEAN Project on Reducing Pollution and Preserving Environmental Flows in the East Asian Seas through the Implementation of Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) in ASEAN Countries was held on 4 June 2025 through a hybrid format,. i.e., in-person at Haliday Inn Resort Baruna in Bali, Indonesia and online via Zoom.

Hosted by the Government of Indonesia through the Ministry of Environment (MOE), the meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Oudomsack Philavong, AWGWRM Chairperson and Mr. Gerd Trogemann, Manager of United Nations Development Programme-Bangkok Regional Hub of Asia and the Pacific (UNDP-BRH). The meeting was attended by the National Focal Points (NFPs) of the AWGWRM from nine (9) ASEAN Member States (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), the East Asian Seas Executive Committee, the ASEAN Secretariat, and UNDP-BRH.

The Regional Project Management Unit (RPMU), hosted by PEMSEA Resource Facility and MOE Indonesia served as Secretariat to the RSC meeting.

PEMSEA, in partnership with the Fujian Institute for Sustainable Oceans (FISO) and supported by the China Oceanic Development Foundation (CODF), conducted a training workshop on Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Application in the Scaling-up of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) last April 2025 in Xiamen, China. The workshop convened participants from 10 East Asian countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam. Through lectures, field visits, simulation, and peer-to-peer exchanges, the training aimed to build a regional pool of ICM-MSP trainers and contribute to the development of a standard course for regional adaptation.

The proceedings details:

• Concepts and tools for ICM and MSP implementation
• Regional experiences on integrating ecosystem-based spatial planning into policy and practice
• Field demonstrations from Xiamen's coastal transformation under ICM
• Practical strategies for developing ICM-MSP curricula and training delivery

The training supports the operationalization of the SDS-SEA Implementation Plan, particularly on capacity development and area-based management.

Now in its third year, the IRBM Project enters a pivotal phase in advancing integrated river basin management across Southeast Asia. “Midpoint Momentum”, the seventh edition of the project’s newsletter, highlights key developments – notably the review of the implementation progress at the Third Regional Steering Committee Meeting, including the completion of the Mid-term Review, the conduct of the orientation workshop on the REWEFe Toolkit for the ASEAN Member States, the official project launch in Viet Nam and the development of solutions templates to support IRBM pilot project planning and implementation.
 

This issue also features field stories, such as the Women of the Wetlands in the Pasac-Guagua Watershed, and announces the launch of the IRBM e-Portal on PEMSEA’s Seaknowledge Bank.
 

From establishing coordination mechanisms at the local, national, and regional levels to designing scalable solutions template for river basin-level implementation, the IRBM Project continues to accelerate momentum – strengthening regional collaboration, deepening stakeholder engagement, and enhancing capacity and knowledge sharing across the ten ASEAN Member States.

The GEF/UNDP/ASEAN Integrated River Basin Management Project convened a Regional Orientation Workshop on the Development of Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Toolkit for River Basins in Southeast Asia on 3 June 2025 in Bali, Indonesia to introduce and demonstrate the applications of the toolkit in selected river basins of the project.

The PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF), in partnership with the National Marine Hazard Mitigation Service, Ministry of Natural Resources (NMHMS/MNR), convened the 2nd Blue Carbon Technical Working Group Meeting on 5–6 June 2025 in Haikou, Hainan Province of China. The meeting was attended by nearly 60 experts and stakeholders on blue carbon from 11 countries in the EAS region and beyond. The PRF Secretariat served as the Secretariat for the meeting. Online participants included members of the PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers and other Blue Carbon experts from the region.
 

The meeting aimed to:

• Draw consensus on the governance framework of an innovative Blue Carbon Ecosystem Services Management Mechanism (Draft 0) and the requirements to operationalize a regional blue carbon certification program.
• Improve understanding and consensus building among BC-TWG members on the draft regional blue carbon accounting protocol.

Expected outcomes of the meeting include:

• Refined concept of a Blue Carbon Ecosystem Services Management Mechanism, including a blue carbon stock monitoring network.
• Refined regional blue carbon accounting protocol.
• Refined workplan for 2025 and 2026 for review, guidance and/or approval at the 17th EAS PC in July 2025.