Manila, Philippines — November 26, 2009 marks a historical event as the representatives of East Asian countries to the Third Ministerial Forum signed the Agreement Recognizing the International Legal Personality of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA).

Manila, Philippines — Three organizations have recently joined hands with PEMSEA. The International Union for Conservation of Nature-Asia Regional Office (IUCN-ARO), the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the PEMSEA Network of Local Governments for Sustainable Coastal Development (PNLG) became non-Country partners of PEMSEA during a special meeting of the EAS Partnership Council at the East Asian Sea Congress 2009.

 

Manila, Philippines — On 25 November, Coastal and Management Institute (COMI) of Xiamen University and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) in England jointly organized the workshop "The Science in Ecosystem-based Management", a branch workshop of the Third East Asian Seas Congress 2009 hosted in Manila, Philippines, which also served as an important platform for the first cooperation between COMI and PEMSEA."The Science in Ecosystem-based Management" highlighted how the various ocean and coastal sciences are utilized to improve ocean and coastal government efficiency on the way to sustainable

Boracay, Philippines — Clear water. Blue skies. Clean air. Powder-fine sand. Picturesque and picture-perfect. The best tropical paradise this side of the world.This is Boracay, in words found in every print publication and among stories from the mouths of those who have been there.Yet paradise is far from perfect. Unknown by many, Boracay's precious marine resources are under constant stress, while its watersheds and critical habitats are giving way to man-made structures. Its ongoing development is pushing the island to reach — and exceed — its carrying capacity.

Bali, Indonesia — NOWPAP representatives recently attended the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands held on 3-7 May 2010 in Paris, France and the 8th Intergovernmental Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) held on 10-13 May in Bali, Indonesia.At the Paris conference, the NOWPAP representative attended several sessions under the Policy, Science and Technical Symposium related to issues of interest to NOWPAP, such as ecosystem-based adaptation to impacts of climate change, biodiversity conservation, governance of large transboundary marine ecosyst

Quezon City, Philippines — Ms. Zhang Lifeng, principal staff member of the Resource and Environment Protection Department of the Xiamen Oceans and Fisheries Bureau, has joined PEMSEA for a three-month period as part of PEMSEA's Professional Upgrading Program for 2010.Ms. Lifeng is in-charge of the implementation of the Marine Environment Conservation Planning in Xiamen, which includes the monitoring of marine environmental quality and promoting ecosystem-based management in Jiulong River Basin and Xiamen Bay.During her three-month stay in the Philippines, Ms.

Tagaytay City, Philippines — Representatives from the offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regions III, IV and the National Capital Region together with representatives from the provincial governments of Batangas, Bataan and Cavite have agreed to update their shared Integrated Information Management System for Manila Bay (IIMS).The group aims to encode available data by early June 2010, in time for the planned PEMSEA workshop on extracting, summarizing and depicting information from the data using IIMS.Emphasis will be placed on updating the database with da

Quezon City, Philippines — PEMSEA has signed a Letter of Cooperation with GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) to jointly assist participating ports in the project: "Sustainable Port Development in the ASEAN Region." The objective of the project is to implement and continually improve safety, health and environmental (SHE) management under an integrated systematic approach in accordance with the provisions of the Port Safety, Health and Environmental Management (PSHEM) Code.

Preah Sihanouk, Cambodia — Consistent with its vision "to be a leading Logistic and Distribution Center," Sihanoukville Autonomous Port - the sole international and commercial deep seaport of the Kingdom of Cambodia — embarked on the development of a Port Safety, Health and Environmental Management System (PSHEMS), with guidance from PEMSEA.

 

Hirado City, Japan — The 2010 NOWPAP International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and Workshop on Marine Litter was convened 26-28 March in Hirado City, Japan. The event was attended by the representatives from the National Focal Points and governmental officials from related ministries of the four NOWPAP member countries (namely, PR China, Japan, RO Korea and Russia), partner organizations, NOWPAP Regional Activity Centers and Regional Coordination Unit.