Finalisation of the Revised Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea

The Ninth Meeting of the Regional Scientific and Technical Committee and Eighth Meeting of the Project Steering Committee were convened in Viet Nam from 20th-22nd August and 25th-26th August, respectively. Both committees gave careful consideration to: activities and achievements of the demonstration sites and pilot activities; the regional training programme; operation and maintenance of the project GIS and databases; and operational considerations for implementing the revised Strategic Action Programme. Important outcomes of the Project Steering Committee meeting include: approval of the final revised Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea; and agreement on the text for a Memorandum of Understanding among the countries bordering the South China Sea concerning co-ordination of actions undertaken to implement the Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea. The reports of the meetings can be accessed here - 9th RTSC and 8th PSC.

The 9th Meeting of the Regional Working Group on Seagrass was convened in Phu Quoc, Vietnam from 3rd-5th March 2007. The main items of business considered by the group included: the status of finalisation, adoption, and implementation of National Action Plans; review of outputs from the South China Sea Regional Training Course on Management Models and Strategies for Coral Reef and Seagrass Ecosystems and associated National Echo-Seminars; the national and regional economic values of the goods and services of seagrass in the South China Sea; and the seagrass component of the regional Strategic Action Programme. Please click here to access the report of the meeting.

The Third Joint Meeting between the Management Teams of the Kampot and Phu Quoc Habitat Demonstration Sites was convened in Phu Quoc, Vietnam from 28th February – 1st March 2008. The meeting was aimed at reviewing the implementation of actions agreed during the second joint meeting of the sites in 2007, and to enhance interactions between the Provinces of Kien Giang (Vietnam) and Kampot (Cambodia) in the management of transboundary water areas. Main items of business included: a review of the status of activities and achievements of the two demonstration sites; finalisation of a policy and framework for co-operation for transboundary water areas of Cambodia and Viet Nam; and development of a joint GIS database. The draft report of the meeting can be accessed by clicking here. A Memorandum of Agreement covering the co-operation framework for environment and natural resource management in the transboundary water areas of Cambodia and Vietnam will be signed by the Governors of Cambodia’s Kampot and Vietnam’s Kien Giang Province on the 29th March 2008 in Kampot.

The Project Co-ordinating Unit has recently produced a DVD of outputs from the UNEP/GEF South China Sea Project. This DVD contains more than 1,500 project documents, including South China Sea technical reports and knowledge documents; in excess of 4 hrs of video from TV news coverage of project meetings and demonstration site activities; a catalogue of public awareness materials generated through the project; and Google Earth files for each habitat demonstration site and pilot activity. A highlights CD of the Third Mayors’ Round-Table and Regional Scientific Conference of the South China Sea has also been produced. Please click here to download these information resources or to request for the DVD and/or CD to be sent to you by post.