The second State of the Marine Environment Report (SOMER-2) for the NOWPAP region has recently been published. The SOMER-2 has been prepared by NOWPAP POMRAC in collaboration with other three NOWPAP RACs, based on the first State of Marine Environment Report (published in 2007) and taking into account developments in recent years. The SOMER-2 presents the current status of marine environment, assessing the marine and coastal areas of the NOWPAP region by analyzing major marine environmental problems and issues including contamination by hazardous substances through atmospheric deposition as well as river and direct inputs, oil and chemical spills, harmful algal blooms, marine litter, non-indigenous and invasive species, habitat transformation, endangered species, and climate change impacts.
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.