Background Paper for the East Asian Seas Stocktaking Meeting Preparation of a Programmatic Approach for the Coordinated Sound Management and Development of the East Asia Seas Region
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Background Paper for the East Asian Seas Stocktaking Meeting: Preparation of a Programmatic Approach for the Coordinated Sound Management and Development of the East Asia Seas Region

PUBLICATION DATE:

Thursday, September 01, 2011

PUBLICATION TYPE:

Meeting Documents

STATUS:

Only Available Online

DESCRIPTION:

The Seas of East Asia (EAS) are bordered by China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula in the north and the Southeast Asian nations in the south. The region harbours a significant part of the world’s coral reefs and mangroves and also produces about 40 percent of the world’s fish catch and more than 80 percent of aquaculture. The human pressure on marine and coastal resources is very high with approximately 2 billion people living in the region. The EAS region encompasses a series of large marine ecosystems (LME), subregional seas and their coastal areas. This includes the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, the Sulu-Celebes Sea and the Indonesian Seas — six LMEs of great ecological and economic importance. The physical extent of each LME and its boundaries are based on four linked ecological, rather than political or economic, criteria: (1) bathymetry; (2) hydrography; (3) productivity; and (4) trophic relationships. Globally, the LMEs are centers of coastal ocean pollution and nutrient over-enrichment, habitat degradation (e.g., seagrasses, corals, and mangroves), overfishing, biodiversity loss, and climate change effects. This report is taking stock of results of GEF projects in these LMEs, including overlaps with two LMEs bordering Australia. Yellow Sea (LME #48) East China Sea (LME #47) South China Sea (LME #36) Gulf of Thailand (LME #35) Sulu-Celebes (Sulawesi) Sea (LME #37) Indonesian Sea (LME #38) North Australian Shelf (Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria) (LME #39) Northwest Australian Shelf (Timor Sea) (LME #45) The countries that border these LMEs are: Australia; Brunei; Cambodia; China; DPR Korea; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; Philippines; RO Korea; Singapore; Thailand; Timor-Leste; and Viet Nam.

 

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