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Vol. 15 No. 1                  ISSN 0117-9756               July 2008

tropical


coasts

Conserving the Sulu 

and Sulawesi Seas

One Vision, One Plan, Common Resources, 

• 

Joint Management



Establishing Marine Protected Area Networks

• 

Enforcement of Coastal and Marine 



• 

Environmental Laws




The Seas of East Asia consist of more than seven million square 

kilometers of sea area, bordered by 234,000 kilometers of coastline. 

The 8.6 million square kilometers of watershed area draining into 

these regional seas are governed by 13 coastal nations and 2 non-

coastal nations; nations which are home to more than 1.8 billion 

people.


These basic parameters concerning the Seas of East Asia provide 

a meager glimpse of the complexities associated with managing 

a vast geographic sea area that is rich in shared historical, cultural, 

economic and ecological features, but, at the same time, spans 

countries with disparate sociopolitical and economic conditions and 

scientifi c and technical capacities. It is from this perspective that the 

Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-

SEA), which was adopted in December 2003 with the signing of the 

Putrajaya Declaration, is regarded as a signifi cant milestone in the 

journey to improving the governance of the East Asian Seas. For the 

fi rst time in the history of the region, concerned countries agreed to 

a common management framework and platform for cooperation to 

collectively address natural and man-made transboundary threats 

to the sustainable development of their shared seas and common 

resources. 

The SDS-SEA provides countries and their partners with practical 

guidance to coastal and ocean management, founded on the 

30 to 40 years of experience at the national, subnational and 

subregional levels, as well as lessons and good practices from the 

global community. But the essence of the SDS-SEA is not simply 

the objectives and actions that are delineated in the document, but 

also recognition that the goal of sustainable development of marine 

and coastal resources entails a new paradigm in governance, that 

being a mechanism that promotes and facilitates government and 

nongovernment entities working in partnership in order to achieve 

their collective — as well as their respective individual — social, 

economic and ecological targets.

This innovative approach to coastal and ocean governance was 

formally endorsed by 11 Country Partners and 12 non-Country 

Partners with the signing of the Haikou Partnership Agreement for 

the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy for 

the Seas of East Asia

*

, in December 2006.  Since the signing of the 



Haikou Partnership Agreement, the concept of coastal and ocean 

governance through partnership arrangements has been gaining 

momentum in the region. For example, in January 2007, Cambodia, 

Thailand and Vietnam signed a Framework Programme for Joint 

Oil Spill Preparedness, Response and Cooperation in the Gulf of 

Thailand, setting up subregional governance system for preventing 

and responding to oil spills from sea-based sources.  Similarly, 

management mechanisms are also now being considered by 

countries for the implementation of Strategic Action Plans that have 

been crafted under the GEF-supported South China Sea and Yellow 

Sea LME projects, as well as the emerging six-country Coral Triangle 

Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security, a partnership of 

six countries (i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, 

the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste).  

This issue of Tropical Coasts focuses on an LME within the Seas of East 

Asia, the Sulu and Sulawesi Seas, which is in the process of developing 

and implementing a tri-national partnership arrangement. The Sulu 

and Sulawesi Seas, also known as the Sulu-Celebes Sea, have been 

identifi ed as a distinct LME, ecoregion, and seascape by the United 

States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US NOAA), 

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and Conservation International 

(CI), respectively. 

The sea area is fl anked by three populous, developing nations — the 

Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. The subregion is inhabited by 35 

million people and spans an area of nearly one million km

2

. The seas 



are located within the East Indies Triangle or Coral Triangle, described 

as the global center of marine biodiversity. It is home to the Verde 

Island Passage, which in turn is regarded as the center of the center of 

marine shorefi sh biodiversity. The “center of the center” distinction is 

based on a study conducted by Carpenter and Springer in 2005. The 

study overlaid distribution maps of 2,983 individual species comprising 

of algae, corals, crustaceans, mollusks, fi shes, marine reptiles and 

marine mammals. The outcome was confi rmation that the highest 

species richness per unit area of 1,736 species within a 10 km x 10 km 

grid area was in the Verde Island Passage. 

Stakeholders of the Sulu and Sulawesi Seas have been able to share 

information and jointly identify priority areas for conservation to 

achieve a common vision. They have crafted a plan known as the 

Ecoregion Conservation Plan (ECP) for the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine 

Ecosystem (SSME) and forged a tri-national management mechanism. 

The three countries, in partnership with local governments, 

communities, scientifi c and technical institutions, international NGOs, 

donors and the business sector, are now in the process of developing 

the required capacities to implement the ECP, including strengthening 

environmental law enforcement and exploring sustainable fi nancing 

mechanisms geared to making the Sulu and Sulawesi Seas one of the 

most advanced marine ecoregion management initiatives among the 

East Asian seas. 

This issue of Tropical Coasts is a joint eff ort of PEMSEA and 

Conservation International-Philippines, a non-Country Partner of 

PEMSEA, as well as contributions from the Tri-National Secretariat for 

the ECP, (i.e., Malaysia Department of Fisheries – Sabah). It features 

articles on the SSME covering the development of the ECP, the 

supporting management framework and governance arrangements, 

fi nancing and partnerships mechanisms, and enforcement initiatives. A 

prognosis on future initiatives planned for this large marine ecosystem 

is also featured. 

The ECP and SSME implementing mechanism provide insight into a 

number of innovative approaches to strengthening coastal and ocean 

governance, with the application of sound science and multisectoral 

partnerships. Furthermore, as a subregion of the Seas of East Asia, the 

potential contribution of the SSME to the objectives and targets of the 

SDS-SEA merit continuing support, knowledge sharing and interaction 

among PEMSEA  and SSME partners and collaborators. Ultimately, 

it is envisaged that, by transferring experience, skills, resources and 

good practices across countries, subregions and projects, the common 

target of eff ective and sustainable management of marine and coastal 

resources, directly benefi ting the people of region, will surely be within 

reach. 


Partnerships at Work

Editorial

S. Adrian Ross

Editor


*  Signatories to the Agreement include the Governments of Cambodia, PR China, 

DPR Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Timor-

Leste and Vietnam. From the initial 12 stakeholder organizations, there are now 

16 non-Country Partners. These include Conservation International–Philippines 

(CI), Coastal Management Center (CMC), Intergovernmental Oceanographic 

Commission Subcommission for the Western Pacifi c (IOC/WESTPAC), International 

Ocean Institute (IOI), International Environmental Management of Enclosed 

Coastal Seas Center (EMECS), Korea Environment Institute (KEI), Korea Maritime 

Institute (KMI), Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI), 

Northwest Pacifi c Action Plan (NOWPAP), Ocean Policy and Research Foundation 

(OPRF), Oil Spill Response and East Asia Response Limited (OSRL/EARL), Plymouth 

Marine Laboratory (PML), Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA), 

UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), UNEP Global Programme of Action 

(UNEP/GPA) and UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea LME Project (YSLME).




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