PEMSEA eBulletin - September 2024
PUBLICATION DATE:
Monday, September 30, 2024
PUBLICATION TYPE:
Magazines and Newsletters
STATUS:
Available (Newsletter)
DESCRIPTION:
Dear PEMSEA community,
Welcome to the September e-bulletin!
With just over a month to go until the East Asian Seas Congress, we are excited to unveil our lineup of global and regional experts who will lead various technical sessions and plenary discussions. The opening ceremony will feature Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Executive Secretary of IOC-UNESCO and Assistant Secretary-General of UNESCO, alongside Dr. Vann Monyneath, Chair of the EAS Partnership Council, Ministers and senior leaders of PEMSEA country and non-country partners.
As the EASC returns to Xiamen, discover how the Congress has evolved and thrived over three decades, paralleling the city’s own journey toward promoting sustainable and resilient blue economy.
This month, PEMSEA representatives are taking the stage at various workshops and events across the globe. PEMSEA Executive Director Aimee Gonzales participated in the Marine Spatial Planning Cooperation Workshop of Maritime Silk Road Partner Countries held in Beijing, China, on 26 September 2024 where she emphasized the importance of integrating coastal management mechanisms with area-based management tools to meet global biodiversity targets.
Ms. Nancy Bermas, Regional Project Manager of the UNDP/GEF/ASEAN Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project, attended the 10th Biennial International Waters Conference (IWC10) in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 23-26 September 2024, where she delivered a pitch on the IRBM Project’s experience in establishing governance mechanisms at both regional and basin levels.
While Ms. Gusung Lee, PEMSEA Technical Advisor was in Bangkok, Thailand to represent PEMSEA in a panel discussion on regional and subregional instruments, frameworks and bodies (IFBs) at the Workshop for North-East and South-East Asia on the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), held from 16-20 September 2024. She discussed PEMSEA’s experience in Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) as essential tools to manage land-sea use interaction which would be vital in extending protection and sustainable management of biodiversity in the high seas.
From the field, we share the latest updates on the UNDP/GEF/ASEAN IRBM project which held a dialogue with indigenous leaders in the Province of Pampanga on 17 September 2024. The Marine Plastics Project local partners in Dipolog City and Bulan, Sorsogon in the Philippines participated in the International Coastal Cleanup on 21 September 2024.
In other news, PEMSEA and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) have renewed their partnership on biodiversity conservation and marine habitat protection and restoration through a five-year Letter of Cooperation, signed on 20 September 2024, by their respective Executive Directors Aimee Gonzales and Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim.
From the ATSEA-2 Project, check out the recent publication of six key scientific studies focused on marine conservation and sustainable development in the Arafura and Timor Seas.
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