UNEP GEF South China Seas Strategic Action Programme (SCS SAP)

Overview

The world is facing multiple planetary crises, including climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – often referred to as the “Triple Planetary Crises” (TPC). Addressing these challenges requires integrated and comprehensive solutions, as solving the challenges separately in a “one-by-one” approach is not sufficient given the urgency of the situation. Furthermore, some solutions to one of the crises may negatively impact others. And some solutions can – if designed and implemented well – contribute to several crises all at once. Such trade-offs and synergies must be identified and coordinated.

The countries around the East Asian Seas have joined the global community and committed to solving climate change and biodiversity challenges as well as the complex issue of marine pollution. These include addressing global commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolutions, as well as regional and sub-regional commitments, such through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

One of the essential approaches to solving these challenges will be building partnerships amongst different stakeholders. Many organizations and projects are working on various aspects of marine and coastal management in the East Asian Seas. Far too many activities and projects are implemented in isolation; with comprehensive coordination of initiatives across organizations, projects, and thematic areas being the exception rather than the norm. It is critical that these efforts are coordinated amongst stakeholders to eliminate duplications and explore synergies with the aim to optimize the use of limited financial and human resources. This coordination is often challenged by different governance modalities across existing mechanisms – there is a need to discuss and identify clear synergies and opportunities for embarking on coordinated approaches in addressing marine challenges in the East Asian Seas region.

This session will focus on the efforts of regional marine environmental institutions in promoting coordination and collaboration for the sustainable governance of the East Asian Seas region. The session will bring together strategic partners and stakeholders, including PEMSEA, IUCN, IOC-WESTPAC, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Coral Triangle Initiative, amongst others, to move towards a future where coordination and integration is standard.

Objective

The overall aim of the session is to encourage collaborative efforts amongst regional marine organizations in the East Asian Seas to address the triple planetary crises.

Format

Part One will provide a background on the triple planetary crises and the efforts of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in addressing this complex issue in the marine and coastal ecosystems of the East Asian Seas. Focus will be on the Regional Seas Programme, the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), and the UNEP/GEF South China Seas – Strategic Action Programme (SCS-SAP) Project. The discussions will demonstrate the increasing working partnership between COBSEA and the SCS-SAP Project, exploring synergies and complementarities, and collaborative opportunities on the development and updating of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) – Strategic Action Programme (SAP), knowledge management, regional governance and regional working group collaboration, as well as the implementation of the COBSEA Strategic Directions 2023-2027.

Part Two will extend the discussion with other regional marine organizations in the East Asian Seas through a panel and workshop session. Organizations will be invited to present their experiences and thoughts in regional partnerships, how to capitalize the competencies of each organization, requirements to establish this partnership, such as science-policy interface, engagements, institutional structure, and resources.

Finally, Part Three will invite the audience to engage in the conversation, bring in their additional thoughts, and ask questions to the panelists. The workshop will end with agree ways forward.

Expected Output/s:

• Roadmap towards a potential collaborative effort for regional marine organizations to address the triple planetary crises.
• Working paper on this collaborative effort, including timeline, objectives, and activities.

The discussions of this EAS Congress session are expected to be expanded further in the “Our Ocean Conference” in Busan, Republic of Korea, in April 2025, and presented in the “Third UN Ocean Conference” (UNOC3) in Nice, France, in June 2025, as a regional contribution from the East Asian Seas region

Programme