ABOUT PEMSEA> PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
CIVIL SOCIETY

Objective

To support the development of a sustainable regional mechanism that augments the regional commitment to implementation of international conventions related to the protection and management of the coastal and marine environment of the East Asian Seas.

The regional mechanism will be an arrangement for sustained collective action among the countries of East Asia to protect and manage their marine environment under the framework of the international conventions.

PEMSEA will undertake activities to develop a regional mechanism and, to help ensure its sustainability through a marine environmental resource facility.

PEMSEA will:

• Study the need for, and sustainability of, a regional mechanism
• Review regional implementation of international conventions relating to the marine environment
• Generate and study the options for a regional mechanism
• Build regional consensus through constant consultation with and involvement of the partners in the East Asian countries
• Assist in the definition of implementation arrangements for the regional mechanism

Marine Environmental Resource Facility (MERF)

The Marine Environmental Resource Facility will be a technical institution that will provide products and services relating to marine environmental management that are needed by the region, such as:

• Serving as a clearinghouse for information
• Technical, e.g. natural resource damage appraisal
• Management software, e.g. integrated information management system
• Legal, e.g. support for development of legislation on the marine environment
• Financial, e.g. developing bankable projects
• Support for the building of capacity by local governments for the management of their coastal areas

PEMSEA will:

• Study the need for a marine environmental resource facility, identifying the services needed by the region
• Define the structural framework for the facility
• Develop a financial plan for the sustainability of the facility
• Set up an operational MERF with:
  • Clear legal, administrative and financial definitions and parameters
  • A sustainable and accountable structure
  • An agreed-upon relationship of participating countries
  • An operation framework defining its size and functions and based on the marketable needs of region and PEMSEA tested services

   

A Regional Umbrella

The regional mechanism will provide a regional framework for coordinating and facilitating the implementation of environmental management activities in the region. The ICM and Subregional Seas programs are area-specific activities to address environment and natural resource management problems. The Marine Environmental Resource Facility will provide the products and services including technical support in carrying out the management actions, while coastal policy will provide the national legal and policy framework.