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Intergovernmental Partnerships
The partnership programme began its operation in October 1999 with the same 11 participating countries. The partnership arrangement includes co-financing of programme activities in-cash or in-kind and/or both, joint undertaking of training courses, collaboration in special projects or contribution of expertise in training and as resource persons for workshops or conferences organized by the programme.
With the participation of Japan in 2001, the programme has completed its intergovernmental partnership with all the 12 countries of the region collaborating in the implementation of the activities of the Regional Programme (Table 1).
In terms of co-financing, the contribution from the governments has far exceeded the original commitment by 170 percent from US$3.3 million to $8.9 million indicating the growing ownership and appreciation of the partnership arrangements.
Intergovernmental partnerships at the local government level are also being facilitated through the Regional Network of Local Governments Implementing Integrated Coastal Management (RNLG). PEMSEA promotes the development of ICM demonstration sites and their replication through the establishment of ICM parallel sites in each participating country. Each demonstration and parallel site develops and implements a set of ICM programs based on the standard framework and processes developed and tested by PEMSEA. The establishment of the RNLG has so far created close working relationships, synergies and linkages among sites. The eleven members of the network take turns in hosting the annual workshop for sharing of experiences, lessons of achievements, and challenges. Such local government partnership based on common goals and interest has laid a good foundation for regional collaboration.
Interagency Partnerships
A major focus of the Regional Programme is to forge interagency partnerships at all levels of the government. This is a very difficult task as interagency conflicts amongst government line agencies have been the main cause for duplication of efforts, intensification of bureaucracy, and difficulty in law enforcement. In fact, government agencies contribute to a large part of environmental degradation and resource overexploitation.
PEMSEA promotes interagency partnership through the following activities:
・Involving concerned government agencies in the development and implementation of ICM at the local government level. In all of PEMSEA's ICM projects at its 11 demonstration and parallel sites in 9 counties, namely; Bali (Indonesia), Bataan and Batangas (Philippines), Chonburi (Thailand), Danang (Vietnam), Nampo (DPR Korea), Port Klang (Malaysia), Shihwa (RO Korea), Sihanoukville (Cambodia), Sukabumi (Indonesia) and Xiamen (P.R. China), government agencies and other stakeholders are part of Project Coordinating Committees (PCCs) that provide policy direction and inputs for the implementation of the ICM project. The usual agencies involved include fisheries, agriculture, forestry, environment, planning, marine, ports and harbors, tourism, public health, drainage, and mining. Through the PCCs, specific activities can be undertaken by the relevant line agencies such as activities related to risk assessment or environmental impacts assessment, zoning schemes, coastal profiles and strategies, and economic valuation of natural resources, etc. Similar coordinating committees are being set up for the management of the Manila Bay, Philippines.
・Strengthening interagency participation in addressing issues of common interest. A good example is the oil spill risk assessment and response project for the Gulf of Thailand, Manila Bay and Bohai Sea. The projects in each site involves a number of agencies (environment, fisheries, ports, marine, navy/coast guards, legal) in response to a determined risk of oil or chemical spills. Preparation of oil spill response contingency plan, deployment of response equipment, training of personnel, air surveillance, and the identification of economic impacts and damage recovery claims, etc, require multiagency and multidisciplinary participation.
Over the years, PEMSEA has acquired good working experience in building interagency partnerships. The coastal strategies that are developed at each demonstration site present a very effective and useful environmental management framework and platform, where each concerned line agencies can find their niches and specific roles towards achieving common vision or development objectives.
Multi-Sector Partnership
A major objective of forging multi-sector partnership stems from the increasing conflicts arising from the multiple use of natural resources. Multiple use conflicts between sectors have severely undermined national and local efforts towards achieving sustainable use of natural resources. PEMSEA has included the involvement of relevant sectors of the economy especially the private sectors, the NGOs, the academe, and the media through forging partnerships with and among them in the formulation and implementation of action plans in environmental management activities.
In Bataan Province, where an ICM programme has been developed and enforced, the private sector, the media, and the academe play very useful roles in the development and implementation of various activities of the ICM programme. In actual fact, a strong partnership has been forged between the provincial and municipal governments with the industries, forming the Bataan Coastal Care Foundation to support government initiatives. The Foundation shoulders half of the total cost of the ICM programme. Such partnership was further reinforced by the heavy involvement of the local media, which kept the general public of the province regularly informed. This has resulted in a well-informed public that is more sympathetic of and willing to cooperate with government initiatives. The usefulness of such partnership extended over the last three years is well recognized and has contributed to several national and international awards for the Province.
The level of multi-sector partnership arrangement depends on the socioeconomic, political, and cultural conditions of each country. PEMSEA's experience shows that it is much more effective when forging such partnerships at the local level instead of regional and national levels. Multi-sector cooperation and collaboration was successful in many ICM projects such as those in Bali, Sukabumi, Batangas, and Chonburi. In some countries such as P.R. China and DPR Korea, multiple sector partnership is less obvious due to the nature of the political system.
A Regional Framework for Ensuring Environmental Security
Since 2000, PEMSEA has embarked on the development of a regional strategy, "Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA)". This regional strategy provides a guiding framework for the implementation of the WSSD requirements for the coasts and oceans of East Asia (Table 2). As stated in the Foreward of the SDS- SEA document (PEMSEA, in press), the regional strategy:
・Provides a package of applicable principles, relevant existing regional and international action programs, agreements and instruments, as well as implementation approaches;
・Offers a regional framework for the interested countries and other stakeholders to implement, in an integrated or holistic manner, the commitments they have already made;
・Addresses linkages amongst social, cultural, economic and environmental issues; and
・Embodies the shared visions of the countries and stakeholders for the Seas of East Asia.
This regional strategy presents a regional perspective, principles and guidelines and a platform for all concerned, to work together and to play their respective roles in addressing common issues and concerns. In short, the SDS-SEA represents implementation approaches for the integrated management and sustainable use of the environment and natural resources therein. The implementation of which is certainly contributing to environmental security of the region.
The regional framework shall further:
・Strengthen regional partnership arrangements amongst agencies, NGOs, the private sector and other stakeholders;
・Enable the concerned organizations and programmes operating in the region at all levels, to promote synergistic and cumulative impacts of their efforts and expertise;
・Facilitate the sharing and transfer of experiences, knowledge, technology and techniques as well as mutual assistance among the countries of the region currently at different stages of socioeconomic development; and
・Facilitate the flow of support and assistance from interested financing institutions and donor agencies and the creation of self-sustained financing mechanisms and investment opportunities for sustainable coastal and marine development.
The SDS-SEA has developed 6 strategies to:
・Ensure sustainable use of coastal and marine resources;
・Preserve species and areas that are pristine or are of ecological, social or cultural significance;
・Protect ecosystems, human health and society from risks occurring as a consequence of human activities;
・Develop economic activities in the coastal and marine environment that contribute to economic prosperity and social well-being while safeguarding ecological values;
・Implement international instruments relevant to the management of the coasts and oceans; and
・Communicate with stakeholders to raise public awareness, strengthen multisectoral participation and obtain scientific support;
About 228 action programs are being developed based on the above six strategies focusing on addressing various management issues and environmental threats challenging the sustainable development of the regional seas.
Over the last three years, the draft SDS-SEA was extensively discussed amongst various concerned governments and stakeholders at the local, national and regional levels. PEMSEA undertakes extensive consultation with its collaborators, international NGOs, international and UN agencies for further improvement. The document was finally approved at the recently concluded Senior Government Officials' Meeting (SGOM) of the PEMSEA participating countries and is now ready for submission to the forthcoming Ministerial Forum in Putrajaya, Malaysia on 8 December 2003 for approval.
The implementation of the SDS-SEA is a challenge. Not only there is a need for political commitments but also for adequate human and financial resources to undertake each program of actions.
The good news is that whilst the draft SDS-SEA is on its passage for governmental adoption, several governments have already taken action to develop their national coastal or marine policy and strategies. The Philippines is in the process of finalizing its consultation on the Philippine Archipelagic Agenda. Thailand is preparing its Thai Sea Policy and Malaysia is currently embarking on developing a Coastal Policy. So are Indonesia and Vietnam. The SDS-SEA is expected to strengthen national efforts in formulating their own national coastal, marine or ocean policies and strategies with its broad guiding framework.
Conclusion
Based on a decade of PEMSEA's experience in forging regional cooperation amongst the countries and stakeholders of the region to address environmental issues, the following lessons have been learned:
・A programmatic/holistic, integrative management approach is essential to resolve cross-sectoral and cross-boundary issues;
・The partnership approach effectively reduces intergovernmental, interagency, multi-sector conflicts as it creates common vision, promote understanding and sharing of risks and benefits;
・Involving the private sector is crucial for not only are they important stakeholders, but they also have the expertise and financial resources;
・It is necessary to turn environmental liability into an economic opportunity in order to seek greater commitment from the decision makers of both public and private sectors.
・Environmental security issues should be addressed not only within the overall context of maritime security, but more so in the context of sustainable development;
・Environmental or Sustainable Development Strategic Framework at the regional or local level is very useful in forging intergovernmental, interagency and multi-sectoral partnership.
The biggest challenge however, is to build trust among stakeholders at all levels. This appears to be a long and difficult process. The partnership approach is an initial step to build consensus, share visions, build confidence and cultivate and foster trust in achieving a greater security for the present and future generations to come.
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