New Global Strategy

 

UNEP Governing Council

In response to a request by its Governing Council, UNEP is adopting a more structured approach to coastal and marine issues with the preparation of a Medium-Term Strategy (2010-2013), which incorporates an ecosystem management component. Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAP), guided by their respective governing bodies, are major mechanisms for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and the WSSD Plan of Implementation.

The new global strategic directions (2008-2012), as listed below, are formulated to continue and further enhance the strategic directions for 2004-2007, aimed at strengthening the Regional Seas Programmes at the global level. The links with economic and human development make it imperative that the Regional Seas adapt its strategic directions for the coming five years to an environment for development approach, contributing to the implementation of the MDGs.

1. Enhance the sustainability and effectiveness of Regional Seas Programmes through increasing country ownership, incorporating Regional Seas conventions and protocols into national legislation, promoting compliance and enforcement mechanisms, involving civil society and the private sector, building capacities, ensuring viable national and international financial arrangements, as well as developing assessment/evaluation procedures where appropriate.

2. Contribute to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, especially the provision related to the development and implementation of protocols addressing land-based pollution sources and activities.

3. Strengthen regional cooperation on preparedness and response to pollution from maritime accidents with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and promote the implementation, as pertinent, of the IMO conventions.

4. Contribute to the effective implementation of the 2010 biodiversity targets and the WSSD Plan of Implementation targets for promoting the establishment of networks of marine and coastal protected areas and planning of proper coastal land and watershed use by 2012 including the designation of important wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.

5. Emphasize the need to implement the ecosystem approach in integrated marine and coastal management (IMCAM) as an overarching management framework for addressing threats to the sustainability of regional seas.

6. Assess and address the impact of climate change on the marine and coastal environment, in particular, the potential social, economic and environmental impacts and consequences on fisheries, tourism, human health, marine biodiversity, coastal erosion, and small islands ecosystems. Promote cooperation for formulating regional climate change adaptation strategies.

7. Intensify regional activities in support of the WSSD Plan of Implementation and the Jakarta Mandate of the Convention on Biological Diversity, notably by identifying critical issues of marine biodiversity, protecting its major components, and promoting its sustainable use; more specifically, focusing on:

    a. Addressing the protection of i) marine biodiversity beyond areas of national
     jurisdiction; and ii) deep-sea biodiversity at the regional scale;
    b. Cooperation with FAO and regional fisheries management organisations
    (RFMO) to address environmental impacts of fisheries and promote an ecosystem
    management approach;
    c. Participation in the Coral Reef Initiative and the implementation of the SIDS
    Mauritius Strategy, as appropriate.

8. Recognize the need for economic valuation of marine and coastal ecosystem services for decision making and policy formulation.

9. Facilitating the mainstreaming of its activities within broader development and economic planning processes including the poverty reduction strategies in developing countries.

Regional Seas Strategic Directions for 2008-2012.
[عربي] [Chinese] [English] [Español] [Français] [Русский]