The East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress is a triennial event that serves as a platform for various stakeholders, partners, and collaborators to share knowledge, build partnerships, monitor progress, and undertake collaborative planning in support of implementing the shared regional framework, Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA), and towards a common vision of promoting ‘Healthy Ocean, People and Economies.’
The EAS Congress 2024 will be held in collaboration with Xiamen World Ocean Week (XWOW) from 6-8 November 2024 in Xiamen, China. This year’s EAS Congress is hosted by PEMSEA and the People’s Republic of China through the Ministry of Natural Resources with the assistance of the Xiamen Municipal People’s Government, and the Xiamen Municipal Bureau for Ocean Development, which serves as the Secretariat to XWOW.
The EAS Congress aims to:
- Showcase positive results and outcomes for replicating and scaling up integrated coastal management (ICM) across the region – whether local blue economy entrepreneurship programs, solid waste management, Eco-DRR, blue carbon, community-led habitat restoration projects or policy instruments like payments for ecosystem services, among others;
- Facilitate knowledge exchange between multiple stakeholders pursuing cutting-edge advancements in areas like renewable ocean energy, utilizing AI-powered solid waste systems, crowdsourced monitoring using smartphones and drones, climate adaptive infrastructure designs, blockchain-enabled traceability for responsible fisheries, innovative measures to mitigate marine debris, among others, to promote their wider application in the region utilizing existing partnerships, collaborative arrangements and networks; and
- Quantify and consolidate the progress achieved over the past 3 years of implementing SDS-SEA across dozens of distinct indicators tied to habitat, communities, ecosystems – while also pinpointing specific actions to be elevated moving forward on harder-to-tackle issues.
Blue Synergy for a Shared Future: One Sustainable and Resilient Ocean
The East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress 2024 theme “Blue Synergy for a Shared Future: One Sustainable and Resilient Ocean” resonates strongly with the vision and approaches of the SDS-SEA. Adopted in 2003, and updated in 2015 in response to the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and reviewed and updated every five years, the SDS-SEA provides an integrated framework centered on synergizing efforts across sectors and stakeholders to pursue healthy oceans, people and economies in the East Asian region. The SDS-SEA 2023-2027 Implementation Plan outlines priority actions under the four pillars of effective governance, healthy oceans, healthy people and healthy economies to be pursued through partnerships and collaboration.
The Congress will also assess progress made and challenges faced in actualizing regional and national targets, as it looks ahead at pathways for building greater collective action through cooperation, coordination and knowledge exchange amongst various stakeholder groups.
The EAS Congress 2024 theme captures this emphasis on harnessing collective synergies across governments, organizations, and local communities to secure the sustainability and resilience of our shared ocean resource. The Congress will assess progress made and challenges faced in actualizing regional targets and global commitments, as it looks ahead at pathways for building greater collective action through cooperation, coordination and knowledge exchange amongst various stakeholder groups to secure a sustainable and resilient ocean for a shared future.
Working towards ‘A Shared Future’ signals the desire and collective results that we want out of Congress – that through synchronizing our efforts we can find a balance between utilizing marine resources, maintaining environmental integrity, taking into account social imperatives so that it can be enjoyed by all present and future generations.
The EAS Congress expects to produce:
- Validated and/or novel best practice models and locally optimized solutions for sustaining the ocean while enabling prosperity, with such innovations amplified through regional knowledge sharing;
- Expanded connections between innovators across borders to accelerate the development application of technologies and approaches that drive “triple wins” – environment, social, and economic gains; and
- Renewed momentum and mobilization of partnerships and resources to fulfill the collectively endorsed SDS-SEA vision, with progress gaps overcome through concerted near-term actions that countries agree to through the 8th Ministerial Declaration and other Congress commitments.
Schedule of the EAS Congress 2024
| November 6, 2024 (AM) | Opening Ceremony Ministerial Forum Opening of EAS Congress Exhibition |
| November 6, 2024 (PM) | Opening of the International Conference – Plenary 01 and Parallel Sessions |
| November 7, 2024 | Continuation of the International Conference – Plenary 02 and Parallel Session |
| November 8, 2024 | Closing Plenary of International Conference |
| PNLG Annual Forum PNLC General Assembly |
Download the EAS Congress 2024 briefer here.
