ABOUT PEMSEA
PEMSEA STORY

A Sea of Possibilities

The seas of East Asia…

An immense basin of wealth with unfathomable benefits to the people in the region and the rest of the world.

Surging within its semi-enclosed boundaries are waters that carry a rich heritage of natural resources and marine biodiversity.

Gushing onto its shores is a deluge of opportunities, bringing forth a healthy food supply and noble livelihood to millions of families.

Bordered by Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, the bountiful waters of the East Asian seas flow through the center of people’s lives… linking them ecologically, culturally, politically, and economically.


Turbulent Tides

This strategic, globally significant, and geologically unique international water system has opened the doors of the region to economic development through international trade and other maritime industries.

Unfortunately, these very same doors have ushered in a torrent of transboundary environmental challenges such as pollution, biodiversity loss, the entry of invasive species, the depletion of resources, and the destruction of natural habitats among others.

Such problems have been brought about by unchecked and unmitigated human activities including rapid urbanization and industrialization, multiple-use conflicts, the exploitation of resources, and overpopulation.

Through the years, these activities have adversely affected the productive capacity of resource systems, threatened human health, and lowered the general quality of people’s lives in the region—thereby impeding economic and social development.

All these, compounded by political turmoil, security risks, and the general lack of awareness and interest in the foregoing issues, have turned the seas of East Asia into an alarming global hotspot.

The interconnectivity of the East Asian seas has made transboundary problems a responsibility that belonged to no one…and everyone at the same time.

The inadequacy of individual states in solving shared problems plus the absence of a holistic governing body to properly address critical issues prompted the need for a collective and integrated approach in dealing with cross-sectoral concerns.

Reversing the Tides

As the destructive currents of transboundary problems quickly gained momentum, so did the urgency to reverse the tides with a singular, collaborative force.

This came in the form of one significant drop as the 12 countries bordering the East Asian seas came together with a common vision to ensure the sustainable development of their shared waters—an attempt to turn back the hands of time and reverse the destructive tides that were swiftly taking over the region.

This union, with the support of the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Maritime Organization, brought to life a dynamic regional programme called—Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia or PEMSEA.

For more than a decade, PEMSEA has been at the forefront of protecting life support systems and enabling the sustainable use and management of coastal and marine resources through intergovernmental, interagency, and multisectoral partnerships.

It has endeavored to remove the critical barriers to effective environmental management such as inadequate or inappropriate policies, disparate institutional capacity and technical capabilities, and limited investment in environmental facilities and services.

In the course of its operation, the programme has developed management-related methodologies, techniques, working models, and standards to strengthen practical efforts in the field. continue>