PEMSEA EBulletin - January 2024
PUBLICATION DATE:
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
PUBLICATION TYPE:
Magazines and Newsletters
STATUS:
Available (Newsletter)
DESCRIPTION:
Welcoming in a new year for the oceans
Dear PEMSEA community,
Greetings and welcome to the first PEMSEA e-Bulletin in 2024!
As we embark on a new year of collaborative endeavors in sustainable coastal and ocean management, we will continue to provide relevant and critical updates regarding progress towards a more sustainable future within the seas of East Asia.
Here's to another year of progress, strengthened partnerships, and meaningful impact.
This year sees the convening of our triennial summit for the seas of East Asia, the East Asian Seas Congress 2024. We are busy undertaking preparations for this event, which will take place under the theme "Blue Synergy for a Shared Future: One Sustainable and Resilient Ocean”. The event will be co-hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources in Xiamen, China. An early event, the EAS 2024 Youth Forum, will take place in Uljin City, RO Korea, this April.
The new year also brings a revamped appearance for www.pemsea.org, which has been redesigned to better share information about ongoing work in the region. This newsletter also includes further details of our work in Kampong Bay, and our attendance to the 10th International Conference on Marine Pollution and Ecotoxicology.
Outside of PEMSEA, the imperative for concerted action on climate change has become more pressing as 2023 has been confirmed as the warmest year on record. Environmental multilateralism will be similarly indispensable for other global challenges, such as marine plastic pollution. Global aspirations for an international treaty on plastic pollution will be deliberated upon at UNEA-6.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
2025 MEP Program Planning Workshop
The planning workshop for the 2025 Marine Environment Protector (MEP) Program was conducted on 18-19 March 2025 at Parañaque, Philippines and brought together representatives from MEP partner organizations across six Philippine sites.
Representatives from the four existing MEP program sites presented their 2024 accomplishments and shared lessons learned from implementation. The workshop also served as an introduction for new MEP partners from Bulan and Calbayog who will begin implementation in 2025.
The participants discussed various campaigns and identified effective practices that could be applied across different sites. Together, they drafted comprehensive work plans and timelines aligned with the 2025 implementation guidelines established by the Regional Project Management Unit (RPMU).
The two-day workshop successfully established target outputs for 2025 implementation and developed strategies to effectively impact local communities in their respective sites. Participants focused on ensuring engagement and full support of their respective local government units for proposed marine plastic waste management initiatives.
Proceedings of the 1st Blue Carbon Technical Working Group Meeting
The First Blue Carbon Technical Working Group meeting was held on February 25, 2025, online via video conference (Zoom). The meeting was chaired by the Technical Session Chair and Co-Chair of the East Asian Seas (EAS) Partnership Council (PC) and participated by PEMSEA country partner designated representatives from China and the Philippines; non-country partner representatives from the National Marine Hazard Mitigation Service (NMHMS), Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF), Conservation International (CI), Korean Maritime Institute (KMI); PNLC members, Xiamen University, University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI); and other collaborators, such as the China Green Carbon Foundation and OceanPixel.
PEMSEA eBulletin - February 2025
Dear PEMSEA community,
As we step into a new month, we are thrilled to share some remarkable milestones and collaborative efforts that highlight PEMSEA’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability.
The month began with PEMSEA receiving recognition from the DENR-EMB for the strong collaboration particularly through the MOF/PEMSEA ODA Marine Plastics Project in the Philippines. In the Arafura and Timor Seas, representatives from Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste came together in Australia to tackle the ghost net crisis.
Discover how the IRBM Project is fostering transparency and accountability with its new Grievance Redress Mechanism, empowering voices to be heard. Learn more about the data-driven efforts in the Philippines and Timor-Leste, where beach monitoring is shaping policies to tackle marine plastics.
And don’t miss the update from PEMSEA’s inaugural Blue Carbon Technical Working Group meeting, where stakeholders across the region came together to advance the Blue Carbon Roadmap and set the direction of the program.
IRBM Stories - Reviving the Vibrance of Ciliwung River
The Ciliwung River Basin, located in Indonesia, originates in the Bogor Regency and flows 118.25 kilometers to the Java Sea, passing through the cities of Bogor, Depok, and Jakarta. Covering 421.47 square kilometers, it supports over 3,852,000 people and provides essential resources for agriculture, livelihoods, and transportation. The Ciliwung Dam, constructed in 1911, irrigates 333 hectares of rice fields and contributes to the region's renowned tea plantations. The river basin faces significant pollution challenges from domestic and industrial waste. The Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project aims to mitigate these issues through improved governance, community engagement, and sustainable waste management practices.
PEMSEA Brochure 2025
This PEMSEA e-brochure provides a quick introduction to the partnerships, its role, its networks and the services it offers. For more detailed information, please go to the homepage and browse the various sections of the website.