The First International Workshop on Assessment of Seagrass Distribution in the NOWPAP region was organized in Himi city in Toyama Prefecture, Japan on 3 August. Some 30 researchers from NOWPAP member countries and beyond, Toyama-based scientists, local government officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on seagrass conservation, took part in the workshop. Keynote speeches at the workshop included one titled “Carbon Storage Potential of Blue Forest: prospects for developing blue carbon initiatives in the NOWPAP region” by Dr. Maria Potouroglou of UN Environment/GRID-Arendal and another titled “Estimating candidate EBSA for seagrasses and projecting future distribution of seagrasses in Japan” by Dr. Teruhisa Komatsu of Yokohama College of Commerce. Country reports on the status of seagrass distribution and threats to seagrass in the NOWPAP region were presented by national experts. Dr. Tatsuyuki Sagawa of the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan made a presentation titled “Large scale seagrass mapping using satellite images in Japan” and Dr. Gregory N. Nishihara of Nagasaki University made a presentation titled “Monitoring seagrass productivity using low-cost data logging technology”. The workshop concluded with the presentation by CEARAC of the provisional table of contents of the feasibility study report and a discussion on the action required for mapping seagrass distribution in the NOWPAP region. The workshop reached a consensus on the free availability of satellite imagery in future, the use of cloud computing technology and public involvement in field data collection.
Implementation of NOWPAP contributes to the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) in the Northwest Pacific region.