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One of very few intergovernmental cooperative mechanisms in Northeast Asia, the UN Environment Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) can play a large role in supporting regional peace and prosperity through ‘science diplomacy’, a major conference on East Asian seas in Iloilo City, Philippines, recommended.

At this year’s Fujisawa Campus annual festival at Japan’s prestigious Keio University, a large number of the over 10,000 mostly young visitors were drawn to a peculiar display booth. 

The attraction was understandable—visitors to the booth, mostly students from Keio and other universities as well as pre-university students and members of the public, were encouraged to change their lifestyles and reduce dependence on plastics. Reusable bags, drinking straws and bottles were displayed at the booth along with material about the UN Environment Regional Seas Programme.

Acknowledging the economic and social importance of the ecological health of their seas, Japan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation have endorsed a six-year strategy that will harness science-based cooperation for regional progress towards achieving ocean-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Experts Workshop on Marine Pollution Indicators under Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.1.1, coordinated by UN Environment with the support of IOC-UNESCO, was held on the 12th-13th September, 2018, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

Officials from eight coastal cities in Japan and the Republic of Korea met in Busan, Republic of Korea, with representatives of the UN Environment Regional Seas Programme for the Northwest Pacific to explore ways of working together to protect their seas and coasts from marine litter.

Cloud computing technology can speed up the assessment of Northwest Pacific seagrass beds which nurture biodiversity, purify seawater and mitigate climate change but are threatened by human activities and natural disasters, says a study by the UN Environment Regional Seas Programme in the region.

Fast growing aquaculture production is threatening the rich biodiversity in the seas bordering Japan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation, according to an assessment by a United Nations marine environmental health monitoring centre in Toyama, Japan.

Fast growing aquaculture production is threatening the rich biodiversity in the seas bordering Japan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation, according to an assessment by a United Nations marine environmental health monitoring centre in Toyama, Japan.

Incheon, Republic of Korea, August 2018 – The world’s biggest oil spill at sea in decades, early this year off the coast of China, was met with a speedy response thanks to timely information exchange, according to the maritime authorities of the countries exposed to the environmental disaster, who spoke at a United Nations meeting on marine pollution response preparedness.

Vladivostok, Russian Federation, August 2018 – Four Northwest Pacific countries met in Vladivostok, Russia, at a United Nations expert consultation to review progress in monitoring pollution affecting the region’s seas and coasts and developing ecological quality measures in support of the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Busan, Republic of Korea– A meeting of 15 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies held here in June 2018 has proposed wide-ranging measures to prevent and manage the growing problem of marine debris that threatens the environmental and economic well-being of the region.

On 18 June 2018, Dr. Lev Neretin and Dr. LIU Ning of NOWPAP RCU met with Mr. Song Sam-jong, Director-General, Marine and Fisheries Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City. Dr. Neretin invited Marine and Fisheries Bureau to attend the NOWPAP marine litter workshop to be held in Dalian, China in September 2018.

On 18 June 2018, Dr. Lev Neretin and Dr. LIU Ning of the NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) called on Dr. SEO Jang Woo, President of the National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) based in Busan. Expressing appreciation for NIFS support in hosting the RCU Busan Office, Dr. Neretin briefed the NIFS President on the progress made by NOWPAP in addressing the problem of microplastics pollution and marine litter and expressed an interest in enhancing cooperation with the Institute. Dr.

Republic of Korea Consulate General in Niigata, Japan visits NOWPAP office On 12 June 2018, Deputy Consul General, Mr. Seung-cheol Lim, discussed the issues of mutual interest with Dr. Lev Neretin, NOWPAP Senior Coordinator, at the RCU Toyama office. Among them were the implementation of the NOWPAP Medium-term Strategy 2018-2022 and the interest from both sides to enhance information exchange and collaboration between the two offices.

A marine litter artworks exhibition started on the 7th of June 2018 at Himi City Beach Botanical Garden, Toyama, Japan. This is an annual exhibition organized by the Northwest Pacific Regional Environmental Cooperation Center (NPEC) in cooperation with Toyama prefecture, Toyama University, Toyama Environment Foundation, and UNEP NOWPAP.  All artworks were made of marine debris picked up at the beach in Toyama, and created by Toyama University students.

Russky Island, Russian Federation, June 2018 - Students and teachers of Far Eastern Federal University located on Russky island in Peter the Great Gulf off Vladivostok on the Russian Federation’s Northwest Pacific coast, marked World Environment Day 2018 by removing 200 kg of marine litter from the island.

The coastal clean-up, organized by Ekostart Ltd, a non-governmental organization with the support of the Vladivostok City Administration, covered a 300 m section of the coastline and collected 50 kg of plastic and nearly 100 kg of glass, besides other waste. 

 Beijing, 08 June 2018 – The number of marine species inhabiting the Northwest Pacific areas of China, Japan, the Korean peninsula and the Russian Federation that are at risk of survival is higher than previously estimated, according to an assessment by a United Nations regional marine and coastal conservation programme.

On 5 and 6 June,  the meeting of NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) was held in Busan. The Focal Points reviewed RAP MALI progress and proposed activities related to the Reginal Action Plan for the NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres (RACs) and Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) in 2018-2019.  The meeting agreed that the proposed NOWPAP Special Project on microplastics would use existing microplastics monitoring criteria in member states countries.

Busan, June 2018 – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Bangladesh, Japan, Republic of Korea and Viet Nam meeting at the NOWPAP Asia Pacific Civil Forum on Marine Litter (APML) here on 6 June, shared experiences in mobilizing public support against marine litter and highlighted the increasing threat of sea pollution from aquaculture.  

Busan, Republic of Korea, 05 June 2018 – On 5 June, celebrating World Environment Day, scores of excited school children defied the rain walking around Busan’s popular Haeundae beach, picking up plastic cups, bottles, discarded fishing gear and other waste littering the seashore.

The NOWPAP- Tripartite Environmental Ministers Meeting (TEMM) Joint Workshop on Marine Litter Management, held in Busan’s Hotel Homers was jointly organized by NOWPAP and OSEAN with support from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Environment Management Corporation and the Busan Metropolitan City Government.

The workshop began with presentations on progress in dealing with marine litter in Japan, People’s Republic of China and Republic of Korea.

May 2018. Jeju, Republic of Korea – In a presentation to a conference of leading Korean marine scientists, NOWPAP Coordinator Dr. Lev Neretin explained how the United Nations is using the best scientific knowledge and international cooperation to promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) in the Northwest Pacific region.

May 11, 2018, Seoul, R. Korea: NOWPAP Coordinator attended the 2018 International Forum for the Trilateral Cooperation (IFTC) “The Opening of a New Chapter for Trilateral Cooperation – The Past 10 years, the Coming 10 Years” held in Tokyo on April 18th, 2018. The forum brought together around 30 high-profile government officials and prominent scholars to share their insights along with the forum theme and attracted more than 300 participants from three governments, academia, media, business sectors and diplomatic community.

May 11th, 2018, Seoul, R. Korea: Together with other regional partners (Yellow Sea LME Phase II project, PEMSEA, and East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership) and national stakeholders in R. Korea, NOWPAP (also on behalf of UNEP) delivered a keynote presentation and contributed to the identification of priorities for maritime cooperation between two Koreas at the Regional Workshop on Putting Sustainable Marine and Coastal Ecosystems into Inter-Korean Cooperation. The Workshop organized by the R.