Asian regional workshop on forging regional partnerships in implementing UN SDG 14 and other related marine and coastal goals

The coasts and oceans of the Asian region faces continuing decline in the health of the marine ecosystems. The continued pressures from the unsustainable exploitation of marine resources, along with rapid population growth have grave consequences on the food and livelihood security of many coastal communities in Asia. Any gains in protecting parts of the regional seas are being undermined and exacerbated by the adverse impacts of climate change. For a couple of decades now, multilateral and bilateral collaboration has contributed to supporting the goals of sustainable development. As the region continues to experience rapid ecological and economic changes, new challenges have emerged. Some challenges could be addressed by a single country’s unilateral efforts, however a large part of the challenges, are transboundary and needs to be tackled through well-designed and effectively implemented partnerships.

ASEAN and PEMSEA represent regional entities working towards the economic and socio-ecological prosperity of the Asian region. Collective action of their member states is very crucial for achieving sustainable development. This is timely and relevant considering that ocean health and ocean governance and management are leading the agenda in various fora at the global, regional and national agenda. Joint actions can be done through reinforcing the partnership and reformulating a framework of collaboration to implement the UN SDG goals. To this end, KMI plans to invite national focal points of PEMSEA and ASEAN to the regional workshop on re-enforcing the partnership. The objective of the workshop is to identify priority issues and challenges regarding the implementation of the UN SDG sat national and regional levels, and to explore and develop effective multi- and bilateral collaboration strategies.