There is an emerging and shared concern on the degradation of marine environmental quality of the Northwest Pacific marginal and sub-polar seas among littoral countries surrounding the sea areas; the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation. The NOWPAP member countries identified land-based activities affecting the marine environment as one of the priorities, which is consistent with the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) concluded in 1995.

Land-based activities (LBA) and land-based sources (LBS) that adversely affect the marine and coastal environment include those that cause physical modifications to the environment, such as land reclamation and clearing of forests, and those resulting in the emission and discharge of substances to the environment, including toxic chemicals, that are transported to the marine environment through continental runoff in rivers and streams, by direct discharge and through atmospheric transport and deposition. Adverse effects of persistent toxic substances (PTS), inter alia, is one of the emerging and shared concerns in the region. With the focus on LBA/LBS, in particular PTS, the proposed project complements other GEF activities in the region such as the preparation of National Implementation Plans on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and the UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea LME Project.

Overall Goal and Outcomes

The overall goal of the proposed project is to reduce environmental stress derived from LBA/LBS on the transboundary waterbody of the Northwest Pacific region. It aims to demonstrate a model case of regional collaboration in effectively addressing LBA/LBS, with focus on PTS, which are adversely affecting the marine and coastal environment in the region.

More specifically, the expected outcomes of proposed project are as follows:

First, to set a foundation, in terms of political agreement based on scientific information, for regional collaboration to address LBA/LBS affecting transboundary waterbody

Second, to improve regional and national capacity to address LBA/LBS affecting the transboundary waterbody

Third, to demonstrate innovative measures and methods to address priority LBA/LBS issues/sites.

Proposed Initial Activities

Key proposed activities during the first 12 months, for the purpose of consolidating the activities for the Full-size project phase, include:

§          Implementation of a Preliminary Regional LBA/LBS Environmental Hotspots analysis;

§          Selection and preparation of demonstration projects; and

§          Preparation of Full-project brief incorporating above items.