News

The 15th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting (IGM) was held on 16-18 November 2010 in Moscow, Russia.  Representatives of all NOWPAP member states participated in the meeting which was attended also by the directors of the four NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres (RACs).  The meeting participants reviewed the progress of NOWPAP implementation for the period of 2009-2010 and discussed the ways for future development of NOWPAP.

At a joint workshop on capacity building for the UN Regular Process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) on 21-22 October 2010 in Ansan, Republic of Korea, NOWPAP representative contributed a presentation introducing NOWPAP activities relevant to the Assessment of Assessments (AoA) and Regular Process.

For the third time in a row, NOWPAP participated in the annual event organized by Busan City Hall on 31 October 2010 to promote cultural exchanges among different countries and international organizations.  Among 64 exhibitors, NOWPAP arranged its booth to exhibit NOWPAP activities, including the way of addressing marine litter at the grass-root level. 

In conjunction with opening of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 10, 18-29 October, 2010, Nagoya, Japan), the Northwest Pacific Region Environmental Cooperation Centre (the host of the NOWPAP Special Monitoring and Coastal Environmental Assessment Regional Activity Centre), organized the Marine Biodiversity Forum in the Northwest Pacific Region on 16 October 2010 in Toyama, Japan.

On 1-2 October 2010, NOWPAP International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) campaign and workshop on marine litter were held in Jeju, Republic of Korea.  The events were organized by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM), Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM) and NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU).

In order to strengthen the collaboration among NOWPAP member states to deal with oil spills, the 3rd Joint NOWPAP Oil Spill Response Exercise was successfully conducted on 4 September 2010 in Wakkanai, Japan.  Sponsored by Japan Coast Guard and the State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation, several vessels from Japan and Russia with various oil recovery and treatment equipment participated in the exercise.  Representatives from all NOWPAP member states along with several hundred local citizens observed the exercise.

The Third East Asian Seas Partnership Council Meeting was held in Dandong, China on 26-29 July 2010.  NOWPAP was invited to the meeting as a non-country partner.  In addition to reviewing several reports that summarize the progress and achievements of PEMSEA, the meeting discussed issues relevant to PEMSEA transformation and sustainability.  It was expressed at the meeting that NOWPAP considers PEMSEA as an important regional project/organization and has participated actively in the implementation of SDS-SEA as a partner and will continue to do so in the future.

NOWPAP has been invited to participate in a writing workshop in Prague for the UNEP Yearbook 2011, to contribute on-site perspective on the topic of plastics pollution as one of the emerging issues to be addressed in the Yearbook.  As NOWPAP has been implementing a regional action plan on marine litter in the recent years and plastics account for a majority of marine litter, experiences and information gathered in the NOWPAP region will be useful in the process of compiling the Yearbook.

Two gentlemen came on board recently as new directors of NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres, stepping up the ongoing efforts for the implementation of NOWPAP activities.  Mr. Norihiko TANAKA from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan has replaced Mr. Hidemasa Yamamoto as the new CEARAC director and Mr. Hongbo SHANG from the Policy Research Centre for Environment and Economy of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China became the new director of DINRAC to succeed Mr. Jianguo Wang, who had finished his 9-years service for DINRAC.

Two of the NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres, POMRAC and MERRAC, have organized their Focal Points Meetings respectively on 26-27 May and 8-11 June 2010 in Busan and Daejeon, Republic of Korea.

NOWPAP representatives recently attended the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands held on 3-7 May 2010 in Paris, France and the 8th Intergovernmental Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) held on 10-13 May in Bali, Indonesia.

With the kind support of the Japanese government, the NOWPAP International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and Workshop on Marine Litter Management were successfully organized on 26-28 March 2010 in Hirado, Nagasaki, Japan.   Focusing on ICC campaigns, marine litter and solid waste management, the workshop was attended by marine litter focal points and government officials of NOWPAP member states, officials from Nagasaki Prefectural Government and Hirado Municipal Government, several NOWPAP partners (PEMSEA, YSLME and UNEP IETC), directors and representatives of NOWPAP Regional Activities Centres, envir

14th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting decided to develop a project on assessment of the current status of marine and coastal biodiversity in the NOWPAP region, which should cover the main threats, pressures, impacts and trends at the ecosystem, community, habitat and key species level.    Implementing this decision, NOWPAP RCU, together with RACs, has been working on preparation of the project.  As a first step, NOWPAP is participating in the UNEP-initiated global outlook on marine and coastal biodiversity, contributing regional input.

With the kind financial support offered by the Japanese government, NOWPAP is going to organize its 2010 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and Workshop on Marine Litter Management in Hirado City (Japan) from 26 to 28 March 2010.  As part of the implementation of the NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI), the 2010 NOWPAP ICC and Workshop will focus on solid waste management which is considered critical for the reduction of marine litter generation.

The 14th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting was held from 8 to 10 December 2009 in Toyama, Japan. Representatives of NOWPAP member states (China, Japan, Republic of Korea and Russian Federation) participated in this annual meeting. Representatives from UNEP and from NOWPAP partners (COBSEA, PICES, and YSLME) also attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed the implementation of NOWPAP in 2008-2009 and discussed the major NOWPAP activities in the coming two years.

The East Asian Seas Congress 2009 (the third so far) was held on 23-27 November 2009 in Manila, the Philippines. NOWPAP booth was set up to display posters and promotional items showcasing NOWPAP activities.

To keep the offices away from headquarters (OAHs) abreast of recent UNEP developments, the Administrative Management Meeting (AMM) was held in Nairobi (Kenya) on 26-30 October 2009.  At the expense of UNEP Corporate Services Section (CSS), three NOWPAP RCU staff members dealing with administrative issues attended the AMM.  They will apply the newly acquired knowledge and skills to their day-to-day operation of NOWPAP RCU.

The 11th Global Meeting of Regional Seas (RS) Conventions and Action Plans was held on 5-8 October 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted by the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA).   In addition to RS Conventions and Action Plans, representatives from the UNESCO IOC, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), FAO Regional Office for Asia, UNEP DGEF and UNEP DEPI, also attended the meeting.

The CEARAC FPM has been held in Toyama, Japan, on 14-15 September 2009.  The meeting adopted the CEARAC work plan and budget for 2010-2011 biennium with focus on the following activities: •   Assessment of eutrophication status in selected sea areas in the NOWPAP region. •   Updating integrated (i.e.

The POMRAC Focal Points Meeting (FPM) has been held in Kanazawa, Japan, on 11-12 September 2009.  The meeting discussed and agreed on new POMRAC activities for 2009 and for 2010-2011.  The POMRAC activities in 2010-2011 biennium will be focusing on two major issues: •   Preparing the next edition of the “State of Marine Environment Report” (SOMER) for the NOWPAP region. •   Integrated Coastal and River Basin Management (ICARM).

With the financial support from UNEP Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, NOWPAP successfully convened the Brainstorming Workshop on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity on 17 September 2009 in Toyama, Japan.

As decided at the 8th NOWPAP DINRAC Focal Points Meeting in May 2009, a working group on marine invasive species (MIS) has been set up and started developing an outline for compiling national reports and a regional overview which are expected to be completed within several months.  In the mean time, NOWPAP RCU expert is attending a MIS Workshop organized by COBSEA, which is also developing a regional strategy on the marine invasive species.  

As part of the cooperative activities between NOWPAP and PICES, NOWPAP CEARAC director and expert attended the PICES Summer School on Satellite Oceanography for the Earth Environment on 25-28 August 2009 in Seoul National University, Korea.  The 4-day summer school was conducted for 36 postgraduate students, early-career scientists and other professionals from the North Pacific region. The event was sponsored by several Korean and international organizations and companies.

NOWPAP CEARAC has developed a website dedicated to harmful algae blooms (HAB) which will soon be available after the review by the 7th CEARAC Focal Points Meeting scheduled on 14-15 September 2009 in Toyama, Japan.  From this dedicated website, regional integrated reports on HAB, reports on country case studies, public awareness brochures, database on experts and some details on each case study will be available along with other information, such as meetings, events and links to other relevant organizations, programmes and institutions.   

The NOWPAP Scientific Affairs Officer, Dr. Sangjin Lee, delivered a lecture on “Climate change and its effects on biodiversity” with the focus on conservation of marine environment at the Tunza International Children and Youth Conference. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with UNEP National Committee for the Republic of Korea hosted a Tunza International Children and Youth Conference in Daejeon, Korea from 17 to 23 August 2009.  The conference with a main theme of Climate Change brought together about 750 participants from 106 countries.