The risk of extreme climate-related disasters is expected to increase further due to climate change. Severe impacts of climate change on our nature and society have already been observed globally and locally. Thus, taking steps toward adaptation is crucial to mitigate and avoid such impacts.

The Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Information Platform (AP-PLAT) was established at the G20 summit in 2018 in Japan with the vision of nurturing countries in the Asia-Pacific

Region to build climate-resilient and sustainable society through science-based climate adaptation strategies and measures, risk-informed decision making, and pragmatic capacity building. The mission of AP-PLAT is to provide an enabling environment for climate-risk informed decision making and bankable adaptation actions through synchronizing and harnessing best available existing efforts on climate adaptation among partner countries and organizations.

This session will present the latest scientific findings and capacity building contents provided by AP-PLAT, which will be useful for making the region more resilient to climate change, especially in the Asian basins and coastal areas covered by PEMSEA. It will also discuss how synergies can be created through the partnership between AP-PLAT and PEMSEA, as well as the role of IGES as the PEMSEA Regional Center of Excellence (RCoE) in Climate Change

Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction and the promoter of capacity building activities in APPLAT.

In the session, introduction of useful scientific tools and online capacity building services available in AP-PLAT will be presented. Finally, the discussion on the future possible collaborations between AP-PLAT and PEMSEA among all the panels and audiences will be conducted.

The event aimed to:

a. To understand the current and future challenges caused by climate change in the Asia-Pacific.

b. To introduce useful scientific tools available in AP-PLAT website and how those tools are used for the development of adaptation measures in the region.

c. To introduce some of the latest online capacity development contents available in APPLAT, such as encountering compound risks, and understanding ISO standard related to climate change adaptation.

d. To discuss the opportunities of building partnership between AP-PLAT and PEMSEA, as well as the role of IGES as the RCoE and the promoter of capacity building activities in AP-PLAT.

The GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling Partnerships Project is aimed at catalyzing government action, industry innovation and capacity building in order to reduce the transfer of Invasive Aquatic Species (IAS) from international shipping and other marine sectors in a holistic approach. While the reach is global, all the intended outcomes, outputs and activities are directly geared towards the national and regional levels with a view to improving maritime institutions, technologies and operations as well as achieving improved monitoring and impact mitigation in the participating developing countries.

The Regional Seminar on Biofouling Management and Invasive Aquatic Species was jointly organized by the GloFouling Partnerships Project and the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) on June 23, 2021 via the Zoom platform to:

● Raise awareness on the issue of minimizing the transfer of invasive aquatic species through biofouling and capacitate government representatives to participate in future meetings and negotiations on the issue;

● Exchange information and knowledge on biofouling management, approaches, best practices and innovation that are currently available in the region;

● Identify existing challenges, knowledge and technical gaps in the region; and

● Examine and consider elements and options for regional cooperation and coordination of biofouling management measures that could feed into a strategy to promote regional harmonization of biofouling management.

The regional seminar served as a preparatory meeting for a regional workshop that will be conducted later in the year with the goal of defining a regional strategy for biofouling management.

The online dialogue on “Reducing pollution and solid waste” was organized by the project “Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter” and the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines. The event, one of the collaboration sessions under the East Asian Seas Congress 2021, was held last 16 November 2021, at 2:00PM to 4:00PM (GMT+7). It aimed to be a platform for sharing a variety of strategies, tools, and lessons learned on circular economy for plastics to prevent and reduce marine litter with the following objectives:

1. To facilitate the knowledge and experience exchange in reducing plastic waste and marine litter among participating countries

2. To identify effective approaches and enabling mechanisms in mainstreaming circular economy and sustainable consumption and production of plastics

The Inauguration of the PNLC was facilitated by the signing of the network’s Charter that formalized the PNLC and specified the ground rules on membership and identified joint activities and outputs amongst its members as well as options for sustainability and funding support.

Out of 18 PNLC members, 10 institutions signed the PNLC Charter during the event, namely:

1. Burapha University (BUU), Thailand;

2. Cavite State University (CvSU), Philippines;

3. De La Salle Lipa (DLSL), Philippines;

4. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan;

5. IPB University – Center for Coastal and Marine Resources Studies (IPB-CCMRS), Indonesia;

6. Oriental University of Timor Leste (UNITAL), Timor-Leste;

7. Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), Cambodia;

8. Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL), Timor-Leste;

9. University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV), Philippines; and

10. Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan (XU), Philippines.

Other universities that also approved the PNLC Charter (with signatures to follow) include:

1. Kim II Sung University (KISU), DPR Korea;

2. Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Thailand;

3. University of Da Nang, Vietnam; and

4. Xiamen University – Coastal and Ocean Management Institute (XMU-COMI), China.

The inauguration was attended by 86 participants who represented 14 PNLC member institutions from 8 countries; PEMSEA Executive Committee; PEMSEA’s country- and noncountry partners; and other organizations. The event was organized by Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA).

The 2021 PNLG Forum with the theme “Networking for a New Ocean Decade of Hope” was hosted by the Provincial Administration of Preah Sihanouk (Cambodia) and co-organized by the PNLG Secretariat and PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF). The forum, which convened PNLG members for a General Assembly, was conducted on 1 December 2021 as part of the East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress 2021 through a blended online approach and face‐to‐face meeting for the PNLG members and observers in Cambodia.

A total of 206 participants attended the Forum, representing:

a) 24 PNLG member local governments from 9 countries, namely Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, RO Korea, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam;

b) 3 PNLG associate members, namely the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO) of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) of China and the Coastal and Ocean Management Institute (COMI) and Fujian Institute for Sustainable Oceans (FISO) of Xiamen University (XMU) in China;

c) guests from PEMSEA’s Executive Committee, PEMSEA country- and non-country partners, PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers (PNLC), other local governments, various national governments, the private sector, and media;

d) the PNLG Secretariat; and e) the PRF.

To promote the knowledge and experience sharing of blue carbon science and policy and facilitate the international cooperation of blue carbon research and management under PEMSEA framework, the 2021 International Conference of Blue Carbon will be held in the 19th November 2021 as hybrid meeting using ZOOM portal. The conference is sponsored as a major event of the PEMSEA EAS Congress 2021 and 2021 World Ocean Week in Xiamen.

Themed as Blue carbon ecosystems management for climate change mitigation and adaption, the symposium is designed to get together experts and professional on the study of Blue Carbon to discuss the following topics:

(1) Potential of blue carbon ecosystems for climate action;

(2) Management efforts of coastal blue carbon ecosystem for climate change mitigation and adaption;

(3) Cooperation of blue carbon research and management.

The event was participated by Dr. Aimee Gonzales, Executive Director of PEMSEA, Dr. Emily Pidgeon, co-chair of the Blue Carbon Initiative and Vice President of Ocean Science and Innovation, Conservation International, nearly 300 participants from 21 countries present, including government officials, scholars and NGO representatives concerning Blue Carbon.