PEMSEA Returns to Xiamen for 8th EAS Congress

_{A golden dawn breaks over Xiamen’s Xiatanwei Mangrove Coastal Wetland Ecological Park, hailed as a global model for mangrove restoration.} 

_{(Gao Minglei)}
 

Give a man fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.

- Lao Tzu
 

Thirty years ago, the city of Xiamen in China resolved to transform and combine development with the long-term protection of its natural resources. 

Today, Xiamen is known as the ‘Garden of the Sea’ and is a bustling trade and ecotourism hub, attracting a large number of domestic and international tourists each year.

“Xiamen is a living, breathing example of Integrated Coastal Management or ICM in action,” says Aimee Gonzales, PEMSEA Executive Director. 

In 1994, the Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Sea (MPP-EAS) introduced ICM practices to Xiamen, helping foster institutional reforms that greatly reduced multiple-use conflicts, pollution and the occurrence of deadly red tide, while protecting iconic, endangered species and habitats and providing nature-based amenities to locals and visitors alike. The MPP-EAS project would later grow to become PEMSEA. 

After three decades, PEMSEA returns to Xiamen for the 8th East Asian Seas Congress (EASC), happening from 6 to 8 November 2024. 

Hosted by PEMSEA country partners on a rotating basis, EASC is a triennial event that serves as an intellectual marketplace and forum on the sustainable development of the seas and coasts in the region and beyond. It provides an ocean-focused forum for knowledge sharing, collaborative action and partnership building. 

The very first EASC was held in the Malaysian city of Putrajaya in 2003. Subsequent Congresses were held in Haikou, China (2006), Manila, Philippines (2009), Changwon, South Korea (2012), Da Nang, Viet Nam (2015), Iloilo, Philippines (2018) and Sihanoukville, Cambodia (2021).

The EASC provides a platform for ministerial and high-level technical discussions along with opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange on best practices, new research findings, innovative solutions and future trends in various sectors. The Congress consists of a Ministerial Forum, International Conference, Environmental Exhibition, Youth Forum, General Assemblies of Local Governments and Learning Centers, plus Field Visits to learn about ICM and other sustainable coastal management practices.

EASC’s theme for 2024 is Blue Synergy for a Shared Future: One Sustainable and Resilient Ocean and calls on participants to forge deeper ties and stronger collective impacts. EASC shall be staged in collaboration with World Ocean Week in Xiamen (WOW). World Ocean Week in Xiamen originated from the Xiamen International Maritime City Forum in 2005 and has successfully been held for 18 sessions, attracting nearly 1000 officials and experts, over 50 important international organizations and over two million participants from nearly 130 countries and regions. 

WOW has been an ideal platform for global ocean policy coordination, technology communication, decision-making and action. It has gradually developed into an international annual event that brings together ocean-centered fora, exhibitions and carnival activities.

PEMSEA’s return to Xiamen is a celebration of three decades of committed and hard work to protect, manage and restore coastal resources in collaboration with various stakeholders. Know more about EASC here, by following us on social media and by subscribing to our E-bulletin.