Most of the seas in the Asian region are semi-enclosed or marginal seas. For the purpose of "Securing the Ocean," or enhancing ocean governance in the region through building up an integrated management system, it is necessary to increase the common understanding and identity of this geological feature of the Asian Seas. The environmental and ecological system of semi-enclosed seas is vulnerable to environmental damages from outside. Socio-politically speaking, semi-enclosed seas are closely connected with the lives of people in the coastal states that surround the sea area. In addition, the economic, political, social and legal development of local communities is of such variety in this region that integrated ocean management is not only indispensable, but also the most convenient way to coordinate the different interests of those coastal states.

　

 In establishing an integrated ocean management system in the region, it is therefore most important to create the new perception that Asian seas are semi-enclosed seas and closely related to each other by rather narrow straits or strip of waters. This perception should be cultivated not only among governmental and other experts, but among people in the local community. New concepts like "securing the ocean" or "ocean governance", that are proposed in this meeting, will change the focus of attention. A new perception of Asian seas as a "semi-enclosed sea" would bear a new, shared understanding, identity, and expectations, on the basis of which changes of policy priority should be initiated and coordinated.

　

 The bilateral and regional cooperation in the Asian region that has been made so far is very limited and specific to each issue area. This is because there remain territorial problems in the region, and therefore, in most of the area, sea delimitation has not yet been settled with regards to the continental shelf or EEZ. Therefore, countries in the region are usually rather hesitant to propose a new regime, because in taking such an initiative, they worry about their loss of relative power position vis-a-vis their counterparts in each issue area. However, there are examples of solid progress being made in creating a shared perception of common interests in the region: new fisheries agreements between Japan and Korea and between Japan and China, an agreement to a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea between ASEAN countries and China, and the conclusion of Anti-piracy Agreements for the East Asian Seas, etc. But still, these are limited to agreements to cope with specific problems of immediate interests and the problem of sovereignty is carefully left untouched, as in the case of land-source pollution, piracy or marine terrorism, that may cause devastating damages if they are not prevented.

　

 In such circumstances, it is necessary to set up a new scheme for integrated information cooperation, which focuses on creating and strengthening the perception of Asian seas as semi-enclosed seas that constitute a unitary marine system. This would enhance the awareness that each specific issue should be treated as a mutually interrelated one. This proposal for an integrated information cooperation scheme is different in its emphasis from other proposals so far made in two respects.

 First, the proposal for the Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) presented by PEMSEA (Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia) has rightly stressed the needs of integration of information for effective decision-making. The purpose of such a system would be to establish a standardized and uniform data collection and recording system that is easily accessible and with the same format conducive to easy interpretation. It should be of reliable quality and not be time-consuming or costly to find, collect and analyze data. Of course, such a system can only be created step by step, but it seems that its focus is on the decision-making level, even if it expects to create cross-sectoral integrated information systems. It may undoubtedly enhance a change of perception at the experts' level, but it is difficult to find momentum or political will that breaks through the sectionalism prevailing among the present governmental as well as academic institutions.

 Second, the integrated information cooperation scheme proposed here should include such cooperation in consciousness-raising or awareness-building among people living in local communities, that Asian seas are semi-enclosed seas. It is not limited to cooperation at the experts' level. We already have very good and sophisticated TV video films and other scientific teaching materials for educational purposes and it is very important to make these materials easily accessible to students and people in general. The idea should be considered to establish an institution to provide those films and photo-books to school classes or community colleges, something which might help in generating the political will to integrate and coordinate the policy priorities of Asian countries, not only in the field of ocean governance but also the governance on land.

　

　

 Looking at a map of the Asian region, we recognize that Asian seas have common geographical features, such as semi-enclosed or marginal seas (Japan Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, Celebes Sea and the Sea of Indonesia) and they also closely relate to each other by rather narrow channels and strip of waters. As such, their ecological system is vulnerable to environmental harm. Politically, there are islands or groups of islets, to which two or more States claim territorial title (Takeshima Islands, Senkaku Islands, Spratly Islands); for this and other reasons, maritime delimitations have not yet been settled in some areas. In addition, the Philippines and Indonesia declared themselves as Archipelagic States, thus sea areas within the archipelagos are put under the special regimes of archipelagic waters. Economically, these Asian seas constitute the most important sea lanes for world maritime trade, and over half the world's shipping tonnage sails through South Asian seas. More than 80 percent of the oil for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan is transported through the South China Sea, thus it is called the Second Persian Gulf. At the same time, piracy, or marine armed robbery, is reported to occur rather frequently, and the sea is said to be one of the most dangerous sealanes in the world. The political situation of the coastal states is not necessarily stable. In the region, we have the problem of the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait as well.

　

 Asian seas as semi-enclosed seas face coasts of more than one state, with not a few islets being scattered within the areas, and they are closely connected to the local community of the coastal states. They constitute an integral part of the life of the land. Due to historical, cultural and social diversity of the coastal states in Asia, the perception of the relationship between local communities and the sea area varies considerably according to each local community. And, due to the differing stages of economic development of the coastal states, the policy priority with regard to the improvement of ocean governance differs considerably to satisfy the national interests of coastal states. While, to improve ocean governance of the Asian seas as semi-enclosed sea areas, it is undoubtedly preferable to establish an integrated ocean management system, taking the sea area as a whole and constituting a unitary marine system, it is quite difficult in such socio-political circumstances for coastal states to agree on such an integrated system multilaterally and inclusively on all related issues. The existence of territorial problems in the region is only one element that makes the problem much more complicated and difficult to solve. But even if the territorial disputes should be solved and accordingly maritime delimitations could be successfully achieved, there remains the problem of creating a common perception among policy-makers as well as all the stakeholders of the local communities, that the Asian sea areas are geographically semi-enclosed seas and constitute a unitary marine system. It should also be understood that ocean governance may well be improved only if cross-boundaries cooperation is attained, notwithstanding how the coastal States' jurisdiction is delimited.

　

 Where a marine area is not yet delimited between States, UNCLOS, in Articles 74(3) and 83(3) stipulates the obligation of the States concerned to make every effort, in a spirit of understanding and co-operation, to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature until they agree to final delimitation. Agenda 21, adopted by UNCED in 1992, calls for coastal states to establish a system of integrated management and sustainable development, taking into consideration the fact that the marine environment forms an integrated whole that is an essential component of global life, and for that purpose, proposes schemes to improve international and regional cooperation. To implement Agenda 21, the Japanese government launched an Action Program in 1993, and local governments and NGOs have begun to take initiative in projects called Local Agenda 21 and establish networks with their overseas neighbors.

　

 The political situation in the Asian region is not necessarily favorable for improving ocean governance. States in general tend to seek ways to improve their power position relative to their counterparts in each specific issue area, and this is so especially where territorial and security problems remain unsettled. And where no mutual confidence has been established, it may be impractical to expect even proposals of compromise from immediately competing states. Therefore, even if UNCLOS calls upon States to enter into some kind of provisional arrangements to settle practical problems and provides for a waiver to the effect that such arrangements should not prejudice the legal position of each state concerned, this waiver clause may be relied upon only if confidence has been established at a certain level between the states concerned. The fishery agreements between Japan and the Republic of Korea, and between Japan and China show that, even where there is a territorial problem and delimitation problems remain unsettled, states may agree on some regime of a practical nature if they share common interests on a particular issue. In 2002, ASEAN and China agreed to a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, where the Spratly Islands are located. Although this document is as yet merely a political instrument and stipulates only general rules of conduct, it represents nonetheless a very important step for confidence-building in the South Asian region.

　

 To improve ocean governance by establishing an integrated ocean management system in the Asian sea areas, confidence-building is only the first step to effective decision-making and provisional measures in particular issue areas are not enough. What is most needed at the initial phase is to create a common perception, among all the stakeholders in the local communities of the region, that the Asian seas are semi-closed seas and constitute a unitary whole as a marine system. For this purpose, it may be a good idea to establish an integrated information management scheme, and make all the data and information relating to ocean governance easily accessible and available for all purposes and provided in a form understandable to all the stakeholders of the local communities, including not only policy-makers, technical experts, and scientists, but also fishermen, school teachers and students. Visual information, like photos and films, may also be collected, edited and distributed to improve understanding of the interrelated nature of the marine conditions, thereby creating the perception that Asian seas constitute a unitary whole system. Common understanding, expectations, and knowledge about the Asian seas as semi-enclosed seas, and common awareness that they have a very vulnerable environmental and ecological system, will help build a common awareness among peoples. This awareness should go beyond those short-sighted interests meant only to increase a state's power position relative to competing states; instead, it should enable coastal states to cooperate in working out an integrated ocean management system in the future.

　

 For the East Asian area, PEMSEA (Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia) has proposed and adopted the establishment and operation of the Integrated Information Management System (IIMS). This system focuses chiefly on gathering and making accessible information for coastal and marine environmental assessment, planning, monitoring and management, and helping coastal States to carry out effective decision-making. At the global level, GEF (Global Environmental Facilities) , acting in collaboration with the World Bank and UN Organizations like UNDP and UNEP, grants financial support to similar projects in the field of biodiversity. UNESCO and IMO set up a project to standardize formats and enhance accessibility to marine environmental information, linking geographic, hydrodynamic and meteorological information. These projects will contribute significantly to improving information and data collection and expertise decision-making, by setting standards and making data collection uniform, improving quality of information, make information and data easily accessible and less costly. The purpose of the integrated information management system, which I propose here, is to focus on collecting information and distributing it for raising awareness and building awareness that the Asian sea areas constitute a unitary whole, not merely among experts but all stakeholders and people living in the local society. Towards this end, all information and data should be interrelated and integrated for educational purposes and be easily understandable to civil society at large. An Audio-Visual Information Center, which produces and distributes documentary films on marine issues for TV programs and school classes, should be an integral part of the system.

　

 There are many issue areas to be taken up in the proposed integrated information management system, but I will name only few of them here.

　

 The South China Sea region is the world's second most heaviest traveled international sealane with more than half of the world's supertanker traffic passing through the region's waters. Other large scale vessels carrying dangerous and toxic substances also pass through these waters. Tanker accidents in fact have occurred frequently in the region, but no large scale ones, such as the Torrey Canyon, Amoco Cadiz and Exxon Valdes incidents, have occurred yet. If such accidents occurred in a semi-enclosed sea area, it would cause devastating damage to the coastal and marine ecological system of the whole region. It would also cause great damage to the regional as well as the world economy, especially if such an accident occurred in the vicinity of the Malacca and Singapore Straits. As oil pollution would extend quickly to the whole region beyond the maritime jurisdiction of a coastal state, it is essential to establish arrangements in advance to cooperate in such contingencies, by way of quick notification, exchange of information, measures to prevent the extension of pollution, including salvage of ships, and the exercise of rights of intervention on the high seas when it is necessary as a last resort. Also, to make the cooperative efforts more effective and to forecast the speed and direction of the extension of pollution, it is necessary to gather and share scientific information on hydrodynamics, strength and direction of currents, meteorological information, such as seasonal wind direction, and other information relating to the physical geography of the sea floor. Information about ecologically sensitive areas that are especially vulnerable to damage from outside should also be shared.

 After the Nakhodka incident in the Japan Sea, NOWPAP (North Western Pacific Action Program) was established between Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea, and China, as part of a UNEP Regional Seas Action Plan, and now provides guidelines for cooperative activities in emergencies. The Action Program, however, covers only the Japan Sea and Yellow Sea and no similar plan has been arranged for the East China Sea and South China Sea. In addition, some of the information necessary for realizing effective cooperation may be lacking because they are classified as sensitive for military purposes.

 Apart from accidental discharges, vessel-source pollution frequently occurs from illegal discharges and the dumping of oil and other toxic substances from vessels during their navigation. To monitor sea-going ships and effectively enforce regulations, it would be most convenient to establish an airborne surveillance system, dividing the whole sea region into several areas, which should be set without direct bearing upon the maritime jurisdictional limits of coastal states, and coastal states taking the burden of monitoring regularly the area in their charge. Airborne surveillance is most effective when it is linked to the port-state control of the port authority, under whose jurisdiction vessels are subject when entering port. To introduce such a monitoring system, it is necessary to establish a sophisticated cooperative regime among law enforcement agencies of the coastal states. The fact that territorial and security problems remain unsolved in the region, and the weakness of confidence in each other's law enforcement activities caused thereby, constitutes the main obstacles to the establishment of such cooperation.

　

 Piracy, which occurs within the territorial seas of Southeast Asian states, and is therefore called maritime armed robbery, calls for an urgent regional information cooperation system among the coastal states and states using the sea lane passing through the region. Japan has taken an initiative for improving coastal states' law enforcement capability, and several anti-piracy conferences have been held to build a system for cooperation to cope with piracy in the region. In November 2004, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Prevention and Suppression of Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia, which Japan proposed at the ASEAN + 3 Summit Meeting in 2001, was renegotiated from July 2002 and finally adopted by 16 Asian nations. The Agreement seeks to establish a network of cooperation and information sharing among maritime safety and coastguard institutions. The 16 nations also agreed to set up the Piracy Information Sharing Center in Singapore. At the international level, IMO and the International Maritime Bureau of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) provide piracy warnings to the commercial shipping industry.

 Despite these efforts, it is reported that piracy incidents have been increasing recently in the region. This is partly because, in the Southeast Asian sea region, there are many small scattered islets within the region and the limits of territorial waters of several coastal states intermingle in a complicated manner. Thus, while pirates freely sail across territorial waters, vessels of law enforcement agencies have to exercise their jurisdiction only within their own territorial sea. Joint patrol arrangements between neighboring coastal states' marine law enforcement agencies may be a good idea to surmount this hardship, and it is proposed in fact, but it has not yet been realized on a regular basis.

 Piracy may well be said to be an industry, as pirates must unload at port those articles that they plundered at sea, stock them in storehouses, and sell them in the local community to earn money. Therefore, they are groups of people who have come together to commit organized crime. They need a support system on land to be a profitable industry. This is why they may have relations with insurgents or other terrorists groups, which makes it quite difficult to suppress piracy effectively by way of joint patrol activities between coastal states. Local officers may also be involved in the business. Therefore, mere capacity-building of coastal States' law enforcement authorities does not provide a fundamental cure. Unless the poor living conditions of local communities are improved, corruption of local officers and religious or racial discriminative practices eliminated, and good opportunities for employment created, piracy cannot be done away with. As it may take a long time to realize such conditions, the information cooperation and capacity-building in technical and financial matters is currently the only feasible option agreeable among Asian nations.

 What is important here, however, is that piracy not merely threatens the commercial interests of the shipping industry, but also may cause devastating damage to the environmental and ecological system of the seas in the region. It is said piracy occasionally leaves the victim vessel adrift after plundering, which may cause collisions with other supertankers. Hijacked vessels may be used to attack other vessels or vessels carrying toxic substances may be used to attack a coastal state. To prevent such events from occurring, all coastal states are well advised to cooperate within the framework of the SUA Convention as well as PSI (Proliferation Security Initiative). Exchanging piracy information in real time and enhancing cooperation among coastal states in law enforcement activities are needed for the safety of navigation and the security of the local coastal communities, but are quintessentially needed to preserve and protect the environmental and ecological systems of the semi-enclosed sea area in the region.