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.

 

Nha Trang City, Viet Nam — Vietnamese leaders demonstrated their strong commitment for the sustainable development of the marine and coastal areas of Vietnam during the conduct of the Leadership Forum in Nha Trang City on 7-8 June 2011.

 

Dongying, PR China — The 2011 PEMSEA Network of Local Governments for Sustainable Coastal Development (PNLG) Forum marked the 10th year anniversary of the convening of the forum since 2001. For the past 10 years, the PNLG Forum has served as an effective venue for information exchange, for sharing good practices in ICM implementation, for discussing critical and emerging issues and mentoring among its local government members.

 

Venues for Knowledge Sharing