Recognizing the serious impacts that climate change is having and will continue to impart upon the region in the foreseeable future, the Third Ministerial Forum will focus on ways and means of enhancing social, economic and ecosystem resiliency to climate change through adaptation programs. The Forum hopes to come up with strategies and targets for assisting the most susceptible coastal areas, habitats and sectors of society in the EAS region, along with improved collaboration and cooperation among countries, regional and subregional projects and programmes, and international organizations.

The Third Ministerial Forum is expected to provide policy direction for improving and strengthening the implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA), i.e., the adopted regional strategy of the PEMSEA Country and non-Country Partners. The Ministers from PEMSEA participating countries are expected to deliver updates on their countries’ efforts in sustainable coastal and ocean development, and reconfirm their individual and collective commitments to continuously address existing and emerging challenges besetting the East Asian Seas. In line with previous Ministerial Forums conducted in 2003 and 2006, wherein the Putrajaya Declaration and the Haikou Partnership Agreement for the Implementation of the SDS-SEA were respectively signed, the 2009 Ministerial Forum is expected to agree on new targets for the PEMSEA Country and non-Country Partners for SDS-SEA implementation to 2012.

This high-level gathering is scheduled to immediately follow the Closing Ceremony and Reporting of Outcomes of the International Conference. During the Reporting of Outcomes, the Ministers will receive summaries of recommendations and suggestions based on the outcomes/outputs of the International Conference. The reports or recommendations received will serve as the Ministers’ bases in assessing the status and achievements within the region as well as the necessary directions to be undertaken to improve and strengthen the coastal and ocean governance in the region. This Forum will also feature the country presentations/reports by each Minister on the actions undertaken by their respective countries in line with the implementation of the SDS-SEA.