Global Regional Seas Meeting

The 11th Global Meeting of Regional Seas (RS) Conventions and Action Plans was held on 5-8 October 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted by the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA).   In addition to RS Conventions and Action Plans, representatives from the UNESCO IOC, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), FAO Regional Office for Asia, UNEP DGEF and UNEP DEPI, also attended the meeting.  NOWPAP was represented by Coordinator and Director of CEARAC (Special Monitoring and Coastal Environmental Assessment Regional Activity Center).   The main sessions of the meeting were devoted to:   a) partnerships between RS and UN agencies, MEAs and civil society;   b) biodiversity within ecosystem-based management;   c) biodiversity and the Regional Seas Porgramme; and   d) strengthening the RS alliance.   Taking into account that Japan will host the 10th CBD Conference of Parties (COP 10) in October 2010, NOWPAP activities related to marine and coastal biodiversity are anticipated with great interest. Information received during regular sessions and side meetings with UNEP DEPI and DGEF, as well as with representatives of Caribbean and Mediterranean Action Plans and COBSEA, will be very useful for future NOWPAP implementation (e.g. marine protected areas networks; marine invasive species; etc.). On 9 October, short meeting was organized among representatives from three RS programmes under UNEP ROAP (Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific): NOWPAP, COBSEA and South Asian Seas Action Plan to discuss potential areas of collaboration.