The 27th PEMSEA EC Meeting was held virtually on 26 October 2021 through a Zoom conference call. Representatives from 10 PEMSEA country partners (CPs)—namely Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam—attended the meeting along with representatives from PEMSEA non-country partners (NCPs), namely; International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS) Center, IPIECA, Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP), Ocean Policy Research Institute – The Sasakawa Foundation (OPRI-SPF), Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), and PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG). The PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF) served as the Secretariat for the meeting.

The GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling Partnerships Project is aimed at catalyzing government action, industry innovation and capacity building in order to reduce the transfer of Invasive Aquatic Species (IAS) from international shipping and other marine sectors in a holistic approach. While the reach is global, all the intended outcomes, outputs and activities are directly geared towards the national and regional levels with a view to improving maritime institutions, technologies and operations as well as achieving improved monitoring and impact mitigation in the participating developing countries. The Regional Seminar on Biofouling Management and Invasive Aquatic Species was jointly organized by the GloFouling Partnerships Project and the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) on June 23, 2021 via the Zoom platform to:

• Raise awareness on the issue of minimizing the transfer of invasive aquatic species through biofouling and capacitate government representatives to participate in future meetings and negotiations on the issue;
• Exchange information and knowledge on biofouling management, approaches, best practices and innovation that are currently available in the region;
• Identify existing challenges, knowledge and technical gaps in the region; and
• Examine and consider elements and options for regional cooperation and coordination of biofouling management measures that could feed into a strategy to promote regional harmonization of biofouling management.

The regional seminar served as a preparatory meeting for a regional workshop that will be conducted later in the year with the goal of defining a regional strategy for biofouling management.

This event is part of a series of national inception workshops being held with participating countries of the International Climate Initiative/ International Maritime Organization/Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (IKI/IMO/PEMSEA) Project on Reducing Maritime Transport Emissions in East and Southeast Countries (Blue Solutions Project). This is a follow-on to the regional kick-off meeting for the preparation phase of the overall project held on 18 June 2021. These national inception workshops will initiate the country-specific discussions on the preparation of the full proposal for a pilot project within each country.

The national inception workshop for the Philippines was held virtually from 12-13 August 2021. It was jointly organized by the Department of Transportation (DoTr), which serves as the National Focal Agency for the Project, the IMO, and PEMSEA.

The aims of this workshop were to:

• Introduce the scope, objectives, and components of the Blue Solutions project, including the timeline and implementing arrangements for the national project preparation;
• Understand the principal targets and challenges to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in the maritime sector in the Philippines; 
• Discuss the identification of a national GHG reduction pilot demonstration project in the Philippines; and 
• Delve into the national assessment of GHG emissions in the maritime sector in the Philippines.
   

The national inception workshops in participating countries including Vietnam are follow-on activities to the regional kick-off meeting for the preparation phase of the International Climate Initiative/ International Maritime Organization/Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (IKI/IMO/PEMSEA) Project on Reducing Maritime Transport Emissions in East and Southeast Countries (Blue Solutions Project)  that was conducted on June 18, 2021 to initiate the country-specific discussions on the preparation of the full proposal for the aforementioned project.

The national inception workshop for Vietnam was held virtually on August 19 and 20, 2021 and jointly organized by the Vietnam Maritime Administration (VINAMARINE), which serves as the National Focal Agency for the Project, the IMO and PEMSEA.

The 1.5-day national inception workshop was organized to:

• Introduce the scope, objectives and components, including timeline and implementing arrangements for the national project preparation;
• Understand the principal targets and challenges to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in the maritime sector in Vietnam; 
• Discuss the identification of a national GHG reduction pilot demonstration project in Vietnam; and 
• Delve into the national assessment of GHG emissions in the maritime sector in Vietnam.
   

The 13th East Asian Seas (EAS) Partnership Council (PC) Meeting was held virtually on 28-29 July 2021 through a Zoom conference call. Representatives from 10 PEMSEA country partners (CPs) namely Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam attended the meeting. Also in attendance were representatives from PEMSEA non-country partners (NCPs), namely the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS) Center, IPIECA, Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP), Ocean Policy Research Institute, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF), Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) and PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG).

Representatives from the PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers (PNLC), China-PEMSEA Sustainable Coastal Management Cooperation Center (CPC), and Provincial Administration of Preah Sihanouk (SHV) Cambodia) participated as guests. The PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF) served as the Secretariat for the meeting.

The 2020 Forum of the PNLG with the theme, “Marine Eco‐civilization, Blue Development” was hosted by the Xiamen Municipal Government and co‐organized by the PNLG Secretariat, the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF), the Fujian Institute for Sustainable Oceans (FISO) and Coastal and Ocean Management Institute (COMI) of Xiamen University (XMU). The forum was conducted on 24 November 2020 via a blended online and face‐to‐face meeting for the local attendees in Xiamen.

Over one hundred thirty participants from: a) 35 PNLG member local governments from eight countries, namely Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Timor Leste, and Viet Nam; b) from PNLG Associate members, namely the First Institute of Oceanography and COMI; c) resource speakers and other invited experts, d) the PNLG Secretariat and e) the PRF attended the forum. A representative from Busan, Republic ok Korea also attended the forum as observer.