Seoul, RO Korea — PML continues to strengthen relationships with East Asian partners through a recent high-level visit to Korea.

 

Last week Prof. Stephen de Mora (Chief Executive of PML) attended the Partnerships in the Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)’s 4th East Asian Seas Partnership Council Meeting. In this meeting discussions were focused on the future programme and operational policies of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia.

 

Toyama, Japan — A NOWPAP representative attended the Eco-life Act meeting and delivered a congratulatory address on 19 June 2011 in Toyama.

 

The Eco-life Act campaign in Toyama started in 2007, encouraging ordinary citizens to take environmental friendly actions in their daily life. NOWPAP has been involved in the campaign through participating in the annual meetings where outstanding individuals were awarded by the governor of Toyama Prefecture for their excellent performance in practicing eco-life.

 

Nagoya, Japan — NOWPAP will host the 13th Global Meeting of Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (GMRS) in Busan, Republic of Korea, on 3-5 October 2011.

 

The focus of this annual meeting will be on the implementation of the Global Programme of Action (GPA) to protect the marine environment from land-based activities. Previous GMRS meetings in recent years were held in Bergen (Norway), Bangkok (Thailand), Guayaquil (Ecuador) and other locations, hosted by individual Regional Seas programmes.

 

Beijing, PR China — At the invitation of Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) secretariat, a NOWPAP representative attended the Inaugural Meeting of GTI Environmental Board, held on 1-2 June 2011 in Beijing, PR China as a resource person to introduce NOWPAP activities.

 

Nagoya, Japan — Two NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres (RAC) convened their annual Focal Point Meetings (FPMs) where on-going activities and projects were reviewed and workplans were discussed for 2011 and the next biennium.

 

At the 9th DINRAC FPM held on 26-28 April 2011 in Hangzhou, China, it has been agreed to carry out, among others, the following major activities:

 

Nagoya, Japan — After about 10 years of uncertainty, on 26 May 2011 the Russian Government has issued a Resolution resuming its commitment to annual contributions to the NOWPAP Trust Fund at a scale agreed by the Intergovernmental Meeting.

 

With this commitment, financial sustainability of NOWPAP will be improved significantly, allowing to start new activities to address marine and coastal environmental issues of a regional concern.

 

Nagoya, Japan —The Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), a network of member country governments that promotes global change research and strengthens interactions between the science community and policy-makers in the region, has recently approved a project on "Impacts of Global Warming on Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the Northwest Pacific". The highly-productive western North Pacific has experienced dramatic changes in oceanographic conditions and ecosystem structure, driven by climatic changes and anthropogenic interventions.

 

Phuket, Thailand — IOC/WESTPAC and PICES (the North Pacific Marine Science Organization) organized a joint workshop on on Rapid Assessment Survey Methodologies for Detecting Marine Non-Indigenous Species at Phuket Marine Biological Center, Thailand during July 19-21, 2011.

Plymouth, United Kingdom — This week PML signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Cape Town, to enhance relations between the two organizations, predominantly in the field of sustainable marine management.

 

The signing took place with Prof. Stephen de Mora, Chief Executive of PML, and Prof. John Field, Director of the Ma-Re Institute at the University of Cape Town, who was visiting PML for the lab’s annual Science Advisory Council meeting.

 

Paris, France — Dr. Sang-Kyung Byun from Republic of Korea, Dr. Yutaka Michida from Japan were named the new Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) at the recently concluded 26th Session of IOC Assembly, Paris, 21 June-5 July 2011.