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Collab 11: Managing Networks and Transboundary Cooperation on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the ASEAN Region
PUBLICATION DATE:
Wednesday, February 02, 2022
PUBLICATION TYPE:
Meeting Documents
STATUS:
Only Available Online
DESCRIPTION:
The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), in collaboration with the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), conducted a virtual session entitled Managing Networks and Transboundary Cooperation on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the ASEAN Region as one of the pre-congress events of the East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress. The session was held on 21 October 2021 and hosted and moderated by Ms. Antoinette Taus, Founder and Executive Director of Communities Organized for Resource Allocation (CORA).
The virtual session aimed to discuss the status and progress of transboundary management of coastal and marine biodiversity in the ASEAN region. In particular, it sought to highlight the various initiatives and collaborative actions on sustaining healthy coastal and marine ecosystems through transboundary cooperation such as:
a. the concept of transboundary management in the context of Large MarineEcosystems (LMEs) to mitigate biodiversity loss and maintain productive coastal andmarine environment in the region;
b. the transboundary approaches at site, national, and regional levels in managingcoastal and marine habitats for migratory species;
c. lessons learned, good practices, and future plans related to strengthening capacitiesfor the conservation and sustainable management of MPAs;
d. effective management of MPAs through science-based approaches including keyemerging issues affecting coastal and marine environment in the ASEAN, such asclimate change and marine litter; and
e. communication, education, and public awareness (CEPA) strategies to advocate issuesdrivers of biodiversity loss.
The session also zoomed in on transboundary management in relation to the achievement of national, regional, and global commitments such as the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF), UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, and Sustainable Development Strategy of the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA) implementation. These commitments will contribute to the Congress’s goal in establishing a roadmap on transformative blue solutions for the next decade. Thus, the session presented an opportunity to forge new collaborations and partnerships among the ASEAN Member States (AMS) in protecting its coastal and marine environment, especially in improving the management of MPAs.
Participants of the session were composed of local, national, and regional representatives from AMS, academe, research institutions, non-governmental organisations, development partners from the ASEAN region and beyond. The programme appears as Annex 2 to this document, while Annex 3 contains the list of participants and Annex 4 the links to the recording and presentation materials.
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