Consensus Building for the Formulation of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia
PUBLICATION DATE:
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
PUBLICATION TYPE:
Meeting Documents
STATUS:
Out of Print
DESCRIPTION:
On 12 December 2003, the Seas of East Asia region adopted a common framework for the environmental management and protection of its shared seas. The historic event was capped by ceremonial signing of the Ministerial Declaration on Regional Cooperation on the Sustainable Development of the Seas of East Asia by the honorable ministers and officials from PEMSEA countries—Brunei, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—before a gathering of distinguished guests from various governments, research institutions and international organizations. The Declaration embodies the commitment of the countries to adhere to and implement the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA), which formally brings together national and stakeholder efforts under a collaborative platform for partnerships to implement commitments made under international agreements pertaining to coasts and oceans, including the recommendations from the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Agenda 21. This paper revisits the approaches and processes undertaken to generate the regional consensus needed to develop the SDS-SEA. Working on existing information documents, it chronicles the outcomes of several consultations conducted, particularly during the 1st Senior Government Officials’ Meeting and the 9th Programme Steering Committee in Pattaya, Thailand, the final national review by PEMSEA countries and the feedback from various stakeholders on the SDS-SEA.
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