New instruments and approaches for financing the conservation and protection of ecosystems are emerging seemingly every day. In East Asia, PEMSEA’s 11 Country Partners are seeking to move beyond traditional public financing to fully utilize a blend of both public and private finance to support sustainable development of coasts and oceans in the region. As part of its annual East Asian Seas Partnership Council Meeting, PEMSEA convened a panel of international experts for an Ocean Leadership Roundtable held July 26.

The National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK) joins PEMSEA as its 22nd Non-Country Partner. With the approval from the PEMSEA Executive Committee and the EAS Partnership Council, a signing ceremony took place during the 9th East Asian Seas (EAS) Partnership Council from July 24-26, 2017, where PEMSEA Executive Director, Mr. Stephen Adrian Ross and MABIK President, Dr. Sangjin Kim signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize the partnership and MABIK’s inclusion into the Council.

 

Makati, Philippines – From July 24 to 26, 2017, PEMSEA Country and Non-Country Partners convened for the 9th East Asian Seas Partnership Council, which tackled a number of policy matters that centered on three key messages: Collaboration, Sustainability, and Alignment with the Global Oceans Agenda.

 

Seoul, RO Korea— Building on the successful completion of a regional Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a regional Strategic Action Programme (SAP) to address the transboundary environmental problems in the Yellow Sea, the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) Project enters its second phase of implementation.

 

The Government of Timor Leste has announced its commitment to the development and adoption of a National Ocean Policy by the end of the year. The new policy will guide “an integrated approach to managing the activities in their national coasts and ocean territory.” The Policy has six objectives:

 

BANGKOK, THAILAND—Intergovernmental organization PEMSEA (Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia) is pushing for more innovative financing and increased private sector investments to promote the development of a blue economy in East Asia. The concept looks at a practical ocean-based economic model using green infrastructure and technologies to sustain the health of the region’s oceans, which is home to a third of the world’s coral cover and a significant proportion of global marine biodiversity.

 

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES- Did you know that over half of the world’s plastic polluting our oceans comes from East Asia? The top five global contributors are China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The Philippines in particular, contributes an estimated 280,000- 750,000 metric tons of plastic waste leaking into the ocean from collected garbage inland each year.

 

Momentum is growing behind the concept of “blue carbon” and its impact on global carbon emissions contributing to climate change. Environment, research and academic circles have been talking about blue carbon for some time, and now governments are tuning in too. Blue carbon refers to the carbon that is sequestered and stored in the biomass or sediments of coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows. All three blue carbon ecosystems occur in East Asia and play an important role in food security, livelihoods and the resilience of coastal communities.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) recently concluded its 2017 Traineeship Programme, supporting the scaling up of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) and Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM). A total of six trainees from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Indonesia were in the Philippines for a two-month immersion program that aimed to equip them with the technical skills needed to implement ICM/IRBM programs in their respective countries.