The Pollution Monitoring Regional Activity Centre (POMRAC) and Special Monitoring and Coastal Environmental Assessment Regional Activity Centre (CEARAC) have organized respectively their 11th Focal Points Meeting on 9-10 October 2013 in Tianjin, China and on 11-12 September 2013 in Toyama, Japan. Both POMRAC and CEARAC Focal Points and experts reviewed the progresses made since the previous Focal Points Meetings, discussed and agreed on the work plans and budgets for 2014-2015 to be submitted for approval by the 18th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting to be held in December. Main activities planned for the next biennium are as follows:
For POMRAC,
- Development of ecological quality objectives (EQOs) for the NOWPAP region (which will involve three other NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres), and
- Application of regional guidelines for integrated coastal planning management through training, in cooperation with NOWPAP partner, PEMSEA.
For CEARAC,
- Pilot assessment of the impacts of major threats to marine biodiversity in selected sea areas in the NOWPAP region,
- Trial application of the screening procedure of the NOWPAP Common Procedure for eutrophication assessment, and
- Case studies of sea grass and seaweed mapping in selected sea areas in the NOWPAP region.
