Regional Programme Director, PEMSEA

　

　

 Maritime security issues of the Seas of East Asia cover issues related to national security, food, environment, and navigational safety. These issues are closely interlinked with human activities on land. The Seas of East Asia is a world center of maritime trade and is also a global center for marine biodiversity. Rapid economic growth, globalization and regionalization of trade, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the rapid deterioration of the coastal and marine environmental quality, and the fast rate of destruction of natural habitats, may individually or collectively upset the above delicate relationships.

　

 The Seas of East Asia faces a host of management challenges because of the above complex and complicated relationships. Pragmatic actions are needed to arrest and reverse the fast rate of environmental degradation; strengthen local governance; prevent and reduce multiple use conflicts; ratify and implement international instruments; create environmental investment; and develop or mobilize human and financial resources.

　

 This paper reports on a decade of regional efforts undertaken by PEMSEA, including activities and lessons from achievements and challenges of the pilot phase ("Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the Seas of East Asia") and the current phase, "Building Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)". It highlights the activities, outputs and outcomes of two Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) projects in Xiamen Municipality and Batangas Bay. It includes the subregional efforts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore on database collection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

　

 The follow- on phase concentrates on building intergovernmental, interagency, and multi-sectoral partnerships by (a) developing ICM demonstration sites and their applications; (b) addressing environmental risk issues of pollution hot spots and subregional seas; (c) building capacity in environmental governance; (d) forging regional networking and developing task force; (e) creating environmental investment opportunities; (f) providing scientific support to decision makers; (g) developing an integrated information management system; (h) enhancing communication to promote stakeholder participation; (i) promoting marine policy; and (j) developing appropriate regional collaborative arrangements.

　

 PEMSEA is closely working with its participating countries in preparing the "Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA)" which is expected to be approved by the Ministerial Forum during the East Asian Seas Congress 2003 in December. This regional strategy provides a guiding framework for regional and integrated implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) related to coasts and oceans, Agenda 21, and other international instruments, agreements and protocols. It also provides a regional, national, and local platform for intergovernmental, interagency and multi-sectoral collaboration.

　

　

 The term maritime security, in its broad sense and context in the present day economy, covers issues related to national security, food and environment security and safety at sea. These various aspects of maritime issues are closely inter-linked and, more so, with human activities not only at sea but also on land. This paper focuses on one of these issues: the environmental security of the Seas of East Asia (SEA).

　

 The SEA and its surrounding countries are important in terms of maritime security in the sense that the region is:

　

　

 Rapid economic growth globalization and regionalization of trade, the widening of gap between the rich and the poor, the rapid deterioration of environmental quality, the fast rate of destruction of the natural habitats may individually and cumulatively upset the above delicate relationships. The results are increasing conflicts in terms of natural resource allocation and their use at local, national, regional and global levels, thereby threatening national and individual security - a price the region cannot afford to pay.

　

 The sustainable development of the Seas of East Asia faces a host of management challenges because the issues are complex, and complicated, requires a strategic and holistic approach, time and resources, as well as strong political will. Effective management actions are needed to:

　

　

 Over the last 50 years countries of the region, despite a variation in terms of socio-economic and political situations, have achieved varying degrees of economic growth. Some countries like Japan, R.O. Korea, and Singapore have transformed into economically developed nations and together with Brunei Darussalam, have a per capita income comparable with that of developed nations in the West. The region still has a large population earning under US$2 a day (World Bank, 2002), however, many developing nations like Malaysia, Thailand and P.R. China have effectively reduced the level of poverty in most parts of their coastal areas. Unfortunately, despite the impressive economic growth, the environmental quality of the region has not shown any sign of improvement. On the contrary, based on current environmental reports (GESAMP, 2001 and ESCAP and ADB, 2000), the situation has actually worsen.

　

 According to scientific reports (Chou, 1998; Brynt et al, 1998; Fortes, 1994, UNEP, 1998) the region loses about 1 0 percent of its mangrove wetlands each year and if left unchecked, the region would have lost all its mangroves by 2030. In the same vein, all coral reefs would collapse in 20 years, while most seagrass beds, which are abundant in many coastal areas would have disappeared due to pollution, dredging and land reclamation.

　

 Since 1993, a concerted regional effort to address pollution problems in the region was initiated with financial support from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The regional project, participated by 11 of the 12 countries surrounding the Seas of East Asia, has made significant achievements in demonstrating how environmental issues could be effectively addressed at the local level through the application of integrated coastal management (ICM). It developed two ICM programs in Xiamen (P.R. China) and Batangas (Philippines) as working models for local governments. The two demonstration projects have made much progress and have integrated the ICM approach in their respective planning and economic development frameworks.

　

 Today, the Xiamen Municipality has become one of the cleanest cities in P.R. China and continues to achieve high economic growth (17-19 percent) without compromising its environmental quality. It had effectively clean-up the degraded Yuangdang Lagoon, removed the obstructive cage and oyster farms in navigational channel, implemented sea-use zoning schemes, rehabilitated wetlands, protected endangered species, improved waterfront management, and implemented international and national environmental instruments. Xiamen has made great strides towards the goals of sustainable development. Xiamen is a good ICM model to demonstrate the integration of environmental concerns into its long term economic development plans.

　

 The ICM project in Batangas Province in the Philippines demonstrates a similar model of approach as that of Xiamen Municipality but under a different political and socioeconomic setting. Like Xiamen, it developed long term strategic environmental management plans and successfully integrated the ICM approach into the provincial environmental management system. It became a major vehicle for interagency dialogue, consultation, and involvement through various project activities. Local capacity was developed in terms of integrated planning, environmental monitoring, and integrated environmental impact assessment, with stakeholders heavily involved in the development of action plans and their execution. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector operating in the bay area played a critical role. A foundation known as the Batangas Coastal Resource Management Foundation (BCRMF) was established and worked closely with the provincial governments to ensure environmental concerns were being addressed. The Batangas Bay project demonstrates how NGOs and the private sector can work together with the public sector in fulfilling their corporate responsibility.

　

 The Straits of Malacca and Singapore were selected to demonstrate how the three countries bordering the Straits, namely Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, could collectively address the navigational safety and environmental issues of the Straits. Being one of the world's busiest international waterways with heavy traffic of oil tankers and container vessels crossing the narrow straits each day and with hundreds of small to medium-size fishing vessels cross-crossing, navigational safety is certainly a major concern. The Project mobilized experts from the three counties to examine the environmental problems, undertake assessment of risks associated with public health and ecosystems, and prepare a comprehensive profile of the Straits and a computerized information management system which includes relevant environment, socioeconomic, and demographic databases.

　

 The outputs of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore project gave rise to new efforts to develop an information system integrating shipping information with environmental information in a computerized system. This information system is known as the Marine Electronic Highway (MEH). The preparatory phase of the MEH, which is being implemented by World Bank and IMO and participated by the three littoral countries, has given rise to a pilot-testing project funded by GEF. The pilot-testing project is expected to begin operation sometime in late 2003 or early 2004.

　

 In addition to the above activities, the Regional Programme placed considerable emphasis on capacity building through the implementation of training courses, an internship program and workshops. It also initiated the development of appropriate sustainable financing mechanisms that could help local governments develop financing measures for implementing environmental projects.

　

 The above GEF pilot phase project built a working relationship among the participating countries. It became apparent that environmental issues require a lot more funds and top management commitment for their execution. It was realized that government alone is not enough to resolve the environmental management issues, more so reversing the environmental threats. Further work must be built on forging partnerships with all stakeholders. Many environmental issues, especially those transboundary in nature, require intergovernmental, intersectoral, as well as interagency collaboration. Thus the follow-on project places "building partnerships" as the main target.

　

 The term partnership is defined as a relationship between two or more entities to collectively undertake an activity or several activities that achieve a common goal or vision. A good partnership programme is built upon the strength of each partner in terms of resources, expertise and skills. They share benefits as well as risks in the process.

　

 In October 1999, the Regional Programme on "Building Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)" became operational. The Regional Programme continued to be funded by GEF with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IMO serving as the implementing and executing agencies respectively, and with co-financing from the participating governments and donors. PEMSEA's activities cover the following tasks: