PEMSEA

Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia
Abbreviation	PEMSEA
Formation	1994
Type	IGO
Purpose/focus	Marine and Coastal Areas Environmental Management
Headquarters	Quezon City, Philippines
Region served	East and Southeast Asia
Executive Director	Raphael P.M. Lotilla
Parent organization	UNDP, UNOPS
Website	www.pemsea.org

Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) is a regional partnership programme implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The project, started in 1994, was originally known as Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Seas.

In December 1993, several Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) pilot sites were established, including Xiamen (PR China) and Batangas Bay (Philippines), which helped start efforts in addressing marine pollution problems in the Straits of Malacca and Straits of Singapore. A second phase of the Project, scheduled for 1999 to 2007, was supported by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), focused on building partnerships between stakeholders. The project was renamed to PEMSEA to reflect the new thrust of the programme.

PEMSEA is currently being hosted by the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources and holds its office in the DENR compound in Quezon City, Philippines

National and Regional Agreements and Declarations

The programme was instrumental to the adoption of several national and regional agreements, including:

• Putrajaya Declaration: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, PR China, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam adopted the Putrajaya Declaration of Regional Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Seas of East Asia on 12 December 2003. The declaration formally adopted the SDS-SEA as a regional strategy for the sustainable development of the seas of the region.

• Haikou Partnership Agreement: Signed by the original signatories of the Putrajaya Declaration (with the exception of Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia) and Japan, the agreement established the coordinating and operating mechanisms of the implementation of the SDS-SEA.

• Manila Bay Declaration: Signed in 2001, the declaration is a commitment between the national government and concerned local government units in the Philippines for the implementation of the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy, providing an environmental management framework for Manila Bay and its watersheds.

• Bohai Sea Declaration: Governors of Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Tianjin, together with the Administrator of China's State Oceanic Administration signed the Bohai Declaration on Environmental Protection, formally adopting principles, objectives, policy measures and actions to reduce waste and marine pollution across the administrative boundaries of the adjacent coastal municipalities and provinces.

• Executive Order 533 (Philippines): EO533 declared Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) as the national strategy for sustainable development of the country's marine and coastal resources.

Partners and Collaborators

PEMSEA's partners include the following countries and organizations:

Country Partners

• Cambodia
• China
• North Korea
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Laos
• Philippines
• South Korea
• Singapore
• Timor-Leste
• Vietnam

Non-Country Partners

• Asean Center for Biodiversity
• Conservation International Philippines
• Coastal Management Center (CMC)
• IOC Subcommission for the Western Pacific (IOC/WESTPAC)
• International Ocean Institute (IOI)
• International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas Center (EMECS)
• International Union for Conservation of Nature - Asia Regional Office
• Korea Environment Institute (KEI)
• Korea Maritime Institute (KMI)
• Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI)
• Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP)
• Ocean Policy and Research Foundation (OPRF)
• Oil Spill Response (OSR)
• Plymouth Marine Laboratory
• Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA)
• UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP)
• UNEP Global Programme of Action (UNEP/GPA)
• UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea LME Project (YSLME)

Collaborators

• Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, Australia
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce
• Victorian Coastal Council, Victoria, Australia