COBSEA aims at the sustainable development and protection of the marine environment and coastal areas of East Asian Seas. The Strategic Directions 2023-2027, COBSEA Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI), and COBSEA Marine and Coastal Ecosystems (MCE) Framework provide regional frameworks for cooperation and identify regional priorities to guide action.
Find past strategies in the context of the East Asian Seas Action Plan in resources.
COBSEA Strategic Directions 2023-2027
The Strategic Directions 2023-2027 provides guidance on achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a focus on three thematic programmes: 1) marine pollution prevention, reduction and control, 2) marine and coastal biodiversity, ecosystem conservation and management, and 3) climate action. The Strategic Directions was developed by aligning with global and regional strategies, including UNEP’s MTS 2022-2025, the Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2022-2025 and other RSCAP Medium-Term Strategies.
The substantive themes identify priority issues relevant to the region’s marine and coastal environment and sustainable development, where COBSEA has a particular mandate or comparative advantage to catalyse and deliver policy development, projects and other activities. The governance theme addresses COBSEA as a regional policy mechanism and identifies priorities in creating the necessary conditions for COBSEA and its Secretariat to efficiently deliver their mandates.
COBSEA thematic programmes and cross-cutting, foundational and enabling components underpinning the Strategic Directions 2023-2027 .
Marine Pollution Prevention, Reduction and Control
East Asian Seas Regional Node (2022-): The resumed Twenty-fifth Intergovernmental Meeting (IGM 25) of COBSEA in 2022 established the East Asian Seas Regional Node of the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML) as a knowledge management and networking hub on plastic pollution policies, good practices, and capacity-building. The web platform of the Regional Node, linked to the Global Digital Platform, provides access to technical resources, plans, a map of good practices, learning tools and courses, and the regional plastic pollution research data with over 700 peer-reviewed publications from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three region. The Regional Node addresses knowledge and data gaps and fosters multi-stakeholder coordination to achieve the RAP MALI and global goals.
The 2019 Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) guides COBSEA’s plastic pollution and marine litter action in the East Asian Seas. The COBSEA Working Group on Marine Litter (WGML) is a mechanism for knowledge-sharing and coordinating actions towards achieving the RAP MALI (video).
- Preventing and reducing marine litter from land-based sources. The bulk of marine litter originates on land, arising as a result of unsustainable production and consumption patterns and poor waste management.
- Preventing and reducing marine litter from sea-based sources, including maritime activities such as shipping and fisheries, which contribute to marine litter through accidental and deliberate discarding.
- Strengthening monitoring and assessment of plastic pollution and marine litter. One of the most significant barriers to addressing marine litter is the absence of adequate science-based monitoring and assessment programmes.
- Creating enabling conditions for action, including knowledge-sharing, research, outreach, regional coordination.
Nutrients, wastewater and sediment: Reducing marine contaminants and nutrients from agriculture, aquaculture, and tourism with strategy and action plan on Reducing Nutrient Excess in the Watersheds and Seas of East Asia (RENEWSEAS) and GEF Clean and Healthy Oceans Integrated Programme (CHO-IP).
Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, Ecosystem Conservation and Management
The East Asian Seas region has the richest marine biodiversity in the world. It contains one of the greatest concentrations of coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, coastal wetlands and other important habitats. Human activities in the region threaten reef health and other ecosystems and jeopardize the benefits that flow from the services and goods.
The Marine and Coastal Ecosystems (MCE) Framework, adopted in 2023, is a guidance of COBSEA’s strategy on ecosystems and biodiversity conservation and management. The Working Group on Marine and Coastal Ecosystems (WGMCE) was established for the implementation of the MCE Framework. Anchored on the overarching theme of Blue Economy, the MCE Framework provides a clear direction to achieving the relevant targets from the Sustainable Development Goals and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Read more
- Sustainable Blue Economy: Conserving marine and coastal environment, alongside ensuring inclusive and equitable sharing of resources, and assuring the well-being and livelihoods of local communities.
- Marine and Coastal Spatial Planning: Identifying and planning the use of a marine and coastal space, whether it’s for conservation purposes, fisheries, tourism, and other marine industrial activities.
- Marine Protected Areas (MPAs, including MPA Networks and Other-Effective Area-based Conservation Measures): Providing protection in areas of the marine and coastal ecosystems where human activities are regulated to restore the health of the ocean.
- Marine and Coastal Habitats Conservation and Restoration (coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, and coastal wetlands): Ensuring conservation on coastal ecosystems for its role of important services and value for nature during the implementation of all related activities.
Climate Action
Contributing to climate change mitigation and enhancing climate adaptation and resilience, by supporting and promoting Nature-based Solutions and Ecosystem-based Adaptation.
- Climate Resilience and Blue Carbon: Reducing vulnerability of livelihoods of small-scale fishers and the food security of coastal communities to climate change and retaining the blue carbon storage capacity of marine and coastal ecosystems.
