Fish farms on Laguna de Bay (Nick Greenfield/UN Environment)

 

“When I was a boy, the lake was beautiful,” Bernardo San Juan says. “In the early 70s we would picnic here and swim in the lake. We would just bring a pot and some rice, we would catch fish to cook and drink the lake water. Today, it’s a different story…”

 

Today, in fact, the lake is hardly visible. Instead, vast swathes of the water around the lakeside Filipino town of Cardarno are a sea of green, fish pens and navigation channels alike clogged by an impenetrable mass of water hyacinth.

 

From left to right: Ms. Connie Pura, Ms. Joyce Paigao, Ms. Janine Galang, Ms. Julia Guerrero, and Mr. Thomas Bell.

 

Quezon City, Philippines — PEMSEA would like to welcome Ms. Connie Pura, Ms. Joyce Paigao, Ms. Janine Galang, Ms. Julia Guerrero, and Mr. Thomas Bell to the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF). With the East Asian Seas Congress 2018 in Iloilo, Philippines, coming this November, we’re glad to have these new PRF team members to ensure everything runs smoothly.

 

“Recognizing the critical need for global action to ensure the sustainability of our oceans, the GEF has provided tremendous support to ocean governance,” says Naoko Ishii, GEF CEO and Chairperson. “GEF initiatives have enhanced global and regional cooperation and led to improved ecosystem health, services and human wellbeing through stronger governance at regional, national and local levels.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—From its humble beginnings as a marine pollution demonstration project in 1993 to its current status as a leading international organization promoting the sustainable development of the East Asian Seas region’s oceans and coasts, PEMSEA (Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia) is celebrating its 25th year, which will culminate at the 2018 East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress scheduled on November 27-30, in the Philippines.

 

Young Champions from the 2015 EAS Youth Forum commit to environment-friendly practices for sustainable oceans and seas. (PEMSEA)

 

Calling all youth! We need all hands on deck to collectively achieve the global ocean targets, and youth have a critical part to play. The experience of the East Asian Seas region for the past 25 years has shown that true sustainable development is only possible with integrated and multi-stakeholder cooperation.

 

The ocean plays a key role in the lives of the people of Romblon, providing food and livelihoods to its communities. (PEMSEA / Michael Villanueva)

 

Attendees of the first Romblon Sustainable Development Council meeting
The inaugural meeting of the Romblon Sustainable Development Council. (PEMSEA / Michael Villanueva)

 

Critically endangered species like the hawksbill turtle call Philippine coral reefs home. (PEMSEA / John Andrew Cabiles)

 

Visit eascongress2018.pemsea.org to register for the sixth EAS Congress

Themed  “Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity”, today’s International Day for Biological Diversity highlights progress made since the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) came into force on 29 December 1993.

 

Saving biological diversity from natural and human-induced decline requires concerted effort at every level. Such action can take place at the highest levels, such as the CBD which is a global effort of 196 nations, but it can similarly take place on any level, down to the local and even the personal.