Toyama, Japan, 11 May 2018 – Four Northwest Pacific nations are stepping up cooperation to protect the wealth of fauna and flora found in their seas and shores which are under growing threat from human activities and climate change. Representatives of Japan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation met here with biodiversity conservation experts at a United Nations forum and discussed the preparation of a Regional Action Plan on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Conservation scheduled to be launched in 2023. The 10-11 May ‘Sixteenth NOWPAP CEARAC Focal Points Meeting’ brought together the four member countries of the United Nations-sponsored Action Plan for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northwest Pacific Region (NOWPAP) for their annual review of activities of the NOWPAP Special Monitoring and Coastal Environmental Assessment Regional Activity Centre (CEARAC) based in Toyama. One of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, the northwest Pacific is home to tens of thousands of marine, land-based and avian species, over a hundred of which are classified as endangered in degree, ranging from vulnerable to critical. The NOWPAP region also accounts for a significant share of the global fisheries catch. Loss of marine biodiversity affects the capacity of seas to provide food and livelihoods. Climate change, habitat destruction, aquaculture, nutrient overloading of seas, overfishing and non-indigenous and invasive species are posing an increasing threat to NOWPAP marine and coastal biodiversity. Excessive nutrient inflow is resulting in eutrophication of coastal waters and harmful algal blooms. The rate of increase of protected coastal and marine areas in the region is among the lowest in the world, well below globally agreed conservation targets. A regional action plan for marine and coastal biodiversity conservation will harness the expertise of the four NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres which work on monitoring marine and coastal environmental health along with pollution prevention and reduction. It will also provide a framework for intraregional cooperation on biodiversity conservation, a key component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Some NOWPAP member countries share borders and have similar biological species facing common threats, The Regional Action Plan will focus on IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List species, invasive alien species and sensitive habitat mapping.
