During the 14th East Asian Seas Partnership Council (EAS PC) Meeting last July 27, new Chairs and Co-Chairs were sworn in for the period of 31 July 2022 to 30 July 2025. As the governing body of PEMSEA, the Council formulates policies in support of sustainable coastal development throughout the EAS region. It consists of the Executive Committee, made up of elected Chairs and Co-Chairs and the Executive Director of PEMSEA Resource Facility, and PEMSEA’s country and non-country partners.

 

 

Mr. A. Zaki Iskandar, Regent of Tangerang Regency in Banten Province, Indonesia and Vice President of the PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG) together with key officials visited the province of Cavite, one of PEMSEA’s ICM (integrated coastal management) sites in the Philippines on July 19, 2022 to learn some of the good practices in ICM program implementation in the province. Cavite Province showcased some of its efforts in habitat conservation and protection, and solid and plastic waste management.

 

 

Last 22 June, the 2022 East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform Qingdao Forum, with the theme of “Embrace the Ocean Decade for a Shared Future,” took place in Qingdao, China. It attracted over 400 participants online and on-site, including marine experts, economists, artists, and entrepreneurs of different countries and organizations globally to deepen exchanges and cooperation in marine science, economy, technology, humanities, and environmental protection.

 

 

The following interview with Dr. Chua Thia-Eng is extracted from The PEMSEA Story, a narrative of PEMSEA’s development and the growth of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) throughout the seas of East Asia. Dr. Chua was PEMSEA’s first Regional Programme Director of PEMSEA, serving from 1993 to 2007. He continues to work towards regional sustainability, serving as PEMSEA Chair Emeritus and providing advice to actors within the region.

 

On September 13, Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia held a virtual ceremony to induct the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP) consortium as a member of the PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers (PNLC). The induction ceremony was held after SKLMP’s redesignation as a PEMSEA Regional Center of Excellence (RCOE) in Marine Pollution during the 14th East Asian Seas Partnership Council Meeting dated July 27, 2022. The ceremony was attended by PEMSEA’s Executive Committee, PNLC officers, and the PEMSEA Resource Facility staff.

 

Mr. Stephen Adrian Ross was Executive Director of PRF from 2014 to 2017. One of the founding members of PEMSEA, he worked with the organization for 20 years as a Senior Technical Officer for the IMO, and as PEMSEA’s Senior Programme Officer and Chief Technical Officer before being appointed Executive Director.

 

A primary goal of PEMSEA (Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia) as a regional platform is the exchange of data, information, and knowledge among relevant coastal and marine stakeholders, and the building of ocean governance capacity.  This facilitates the implementation of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) and other aspects of the shared “Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA)” at regional, national, and local levels.

 

The PEMSEA Network of Local Governments looks forwards to the participation of a new member, Gorontalo Province. Gorontalo is a past practitioner of Integrated Coastal Management  (ICM), and seeks to build on this for sustainable development purposes and to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).