Successful ICM Train-the-Trainers Course 1 held in Pyongyang

Pyongyang, DPR Korea — PEMSEA in collaboration with the General Bureau for Cooperation with International Organizations (GBCIO) conducted a National Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) Train-the-Trainers Course 1 on 30 March - 1 April 2011 in Pyongyang, DPR Korea.

 

The training course was participated by 27 individuals from the academic and research institutions, national government agencies and local governments in DPR Korea. The training is part of PEMSEA's strategic approach for ICM capacity development to place 20 percent of the region's coastline under an ICM program by 2015. The three-day training course was intended to strengthen participants' knowledge and teaching skills essential to the implementation of ICM programs to ensure the effective delivery of the ICM Model Course 1 - Understanding ICM.

 

The training course provided lectures, a field visit to the ICM site in Nampho, and a workshop for developing a road map for the Taedong Integrated River Basin Management Project and national ICM capacity development.

 

The training was opened by Mr. Jon Kyong Su, Deputy Director of GBCIO and Mr. Stephen Adrian Ross, Chief Technical Officer, PEMSEA. Mr. Ross welcomed the participants on behalf of the PEMSEA Executive Director, Prof. Raphael P.M. Lotilla and staff of the PEMSEA Resource Facility, and introduced PEMSEA and its activities. He also related the significance of the ICM training for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA).

 

In Pyongyang, Mr. Ross met with Mr. O Kyong Chol, Director General of GBCIO, Mr. Jon Kyong Su, Deputy Director General of GBCIO and Mr. Jerome Sauvage, Resident Representative of the UNDP Office in Pyongyang, regarding cooperation on the implementation of SDS-SEA.

 

In sum, the training course successfully provided learning experience for a potential pool of trainers for ICM capacity building in DPR Korea. The workshop also provided a basis for a road map for the Taedong integrated river basin management and national ICM capacity development.