UNDP/GEF is providing assistance through UNOPS to countries bordering Yellow Sea...
UNDP/GEF is providing assistance through UNOPS to countries bordering Yellow Sea in support of their efforts to address among others the increasing trends of depleting fishery stocks, loss of coastal wetland, land and sea-based pollution and implementation of the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem Strategic Action Programme (YSLME SAP) adopted by China and RO Korea with support of DPR Korea. One of the assistance programs to implement the SAP is the UNDP/GEF/UNOPS project entitled Implementing the Strategic Action Programme for the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem: Restoring Ecosystem Goods and Services and Consolidation of a Long-term Regional Environmental Governance Framework, or the UNDP/GEF YSLME Phase II Project. The project was launched in July 2017.
The objective of this regional project is to achieve adaptive ecosystem-based management of the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem bordered by China, RO Korea and DPR Korea by fostering long-term sustainable institutional, policy and financial arrangements for effective ecosystem-based management of the Yellow Sea in accordance with the YSLME SAP.
There are four components of the project:
- Sustainable national and regional cooperation for ecosystem based management.
- Improved Ecosystem Carrying Capacity with respect to provisioning services.
- Improved Ecosystem Carrying Capacity with respect to regulating and cultural services.
- Improved Ecosystem Carrying Capacity with respect to supporting services.
The key outcomes sought are:
- Establishment of a self-sustaining cooperative mechanism for ecosystem-based management.
- Recovery of depleted fish stocks and improved mariculture production and quality.
- Improved ecosystem health;
- improved inter-sectoral coordination and mainstreaming of ecosystem based management principles at the national level, maintenance of habitat areas, strengthened stakeholder participation in management and improved policy making.
- Skills and capacity significantly developed for region-wide ecosystem-based management.
Component 4 addresses improving ecosystem carrying capacity with respect to supporting services. In Outcome 4.1 of Component 4 entitled “Maintenance of current habitats and the monitoring and mitigation of the impacts of reclamation”, the project will support a series of activities leading to the development and adoption of the YSLME Biodiversity Conservation Plan including the targets to ensure areas of critical habitats at baseline level. Output 4.1.1 of Outcome 4.1 specifically seeks to arrive at an agreement at all levels to implement the relevant management actions to regulate new coastal zone reclamation project. As one of proposed activities, sharing experience and good practice of restoration projects including valuation methodologies, standards and guidelines were planned by conducting regional and national workshops in the late of 2017. Sharing experience and good practice of restoration projects conducted in national/regional scale would contribute to achieve targets on development of YSLME biodiversity conservation plan.