January 24th, 2017: Dr. LIU Ning, Programme Officer of the NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit attended the Preparation Meeting for the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) Project Phase II in Incheon, Republic of Korea on 24 January 2017. The project entitled ”Implementing the Strategic Action Programme for the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem: Restoring Ecosystem Goods and Services and Consolidation of a Long-Term Regional Environmental Governance Framework” builds upon four years of regional cooperation for the sustainable use of the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem put in place by China and the Republic of Korea, supported by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Yellow Sea Partnership and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The initial project completed a regional Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and finalized a regional Strategic Action Programme (SAP).
The project’s objective is to foster a long-term sustainable institutional, policy, and financial arrangements for effective ecosystem-based management of the Yellow Sea. To achieve this objective, the project will support the formation of an YSLME Commission that will oversee the implementation of the SAP; and will support the states' efforts to reduce the decline in biological resources and to restore depleted fish stocks in the Yellow Sea.
Dr. LIU briefed meeting participants about the NOWPAP Regional Marine Litter Action Plan and what NOWPAP member states have done in prevention, monitoring and reduction of marine litter in the region. The participants at the meeting agreed to work collaboratively with NOWPAP on marine litter issues, including those addressing micro-plastics.
The next phase of the dialogue and discussion of further priorities for cooperation will happen during the upcoming YSLME Project Inception Meeting that will establish the institutional structure of YSLME Interim Commission Council, approve activities and the workplan for 2017, and a roadmap towards a sustainable regional framework.
YSLME Project’s geographic area and mandate overlap and complement the NOWPAP’s activities. NOWPAP experts were involved in the formulation of the YSLME TDA and SAP. We are looking very much forward to continue the good legacy and enhance this very important for NOWPAP co-operation with the YSLME Project in the future.
