The 16th EAS Partnership Council Meeting was held on July 23-24, 2024, at Costa Palawan Resort, Puerto Princesa, Philippines, and via Zoom. Onsite participants included the EAS PC Chair; the Intergovernmental Session Chair and Co-Chair; the Technical Session Co-Chair ; the Executive Director of the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF); country partners from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, Timor-Leste and Vietnam; non-country partners from the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB), Oil Spill Response Ltd. (OSRL), PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG), and PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers (PNLC) as an observer.

Online participants included the EAS PC Co-chair, Technical Session Chair, country partners from RO Korea and Singapore; non-country partners from the International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas Center (EMECS), International Union for Conservation of Nature - Asia Regional Office (IUCN-ARO), Korea Institute for Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF), Ipieca and the National Marine Hazard Mitigation Service (NMHMS).

The meeting covered various topics including updates on the EAS Congress 2024, progress report on SDS-SEA Implementation 2023-2027, updates on the Blue Carbon Program, and preparations for the 8th Ministerial Forum. Key outcomes included approving NMHMS as a new non-country partner, discussing the draft Ministerial Declaration, and approving the PRF Work Plan and Budget for 2024-2025. The meeting concluded with recommendations for enhancing regional cooperation and sustainable coastal management in the East Asian Seas region.

The 15th EAS PC Meeting was held in a hybrid format on 26-27 July 2023 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Hanoi, Viet Nam, and via Zoom.

Onsite participants of the meeting included the EAS PC Chair; the Technical Session Chair and Co-Chair; the Intergovernmental Session Co-Chair; the Executive Director of the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF); country partners from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam; and non-country partners from the International Union for Conservation of Nature – Asia Regional Office (IUCN-ARO), Korea Environment Institute (KEI), Korea Maritime Institute (KMI), Ocean Policy Research Institute – Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF), Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG), and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML). Online participants included country partners RO Korea and Singapore; non-country partners ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB), International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas Center (EMECS), Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK), and Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP). The meeting was also participated onsite by observers from the PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers (PNLC), China PEMSEA Center for Sustainable Development, Viet Nam Administration of Seas and Islands (VASI), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines.

The PRF served as the secretariat. 

The 14th EAS PC Meeting was held virtually on 27-28 July 2022 via Zoom. It was participated by the incumbent and incoming Chairs and Co-Chairs of the EAS PC, the Executive Director of the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF); country partners, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam; non-country partners, namely the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), IPIECA, Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), Korea Maritime Institute (KMI), Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP), Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), and PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG); and observers from the IPB University of Indonesia, PEMSEA Network of Learning Centers (PNLC), State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP) in The City University of Hong Kong, and Philippine Country Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). PRF served as the secretariat of the meeting.

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 Eighth East Asian Seas (EAS) Partnership Council Meeting was held at the Be Grand Resort, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines from 13 to 14 July 2016. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines co-hosted the Meeting with assistance from the Bohol Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office. The Meeting was attended by representatives from ten PEMSEA Partner Countries, namely: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. A representative from Thailand participated as an observer. Nine representatives from Non-Country Partners were in attendance, namely: ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB); Conservation International (CI) Philippines; IPIECA The Global Oil and Gas Industry Association for Environmental and Social Issues; Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM); Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP); Ocean Policy Research Institute Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI,SPF); Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL); United Nations Environment Programme Global Programme of Action for the Protection of Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (UNEP-GPA); and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML). Representatives from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) participated as observers.

The Partnership Council focused on the following key issues: (a) Achieving the SDS-SEA post-2015 targets; (b) Development of the SDS-SEA Implementation Plan for 2017-2021; (c) Approval of PEMSEA Informative Documents on ICM Code, ICM System Certification and ICM Professional Certification; (d) Election of new Partnership Council Chairs and Co-Chairs; (e) Establishment of an EAS Partnership Council Subcommittee on a Self-Sustaining PEMSEA and (e) Collaborative Planning, among others. This publication summarizes the proceedings of the meeting.