Our oceans are facing unprecedented threats. With increasing scientific evidence of adverse impacts of climate change, ocean acidification, marine pollution, habitat destruction and the alarming loss of coastal biodiversity, the world stands at a critical juncture where collective knowledge, efforts and partnerships to restore, protect and manage marine ecosystems are urgently needed.  

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are designated with long-term aims to conserve ecosystems and support livelihoods in the coastal areas. As such, MPAs should play critical roles in combating climate change and enhancing resilience in the ocean and coastal areas, and there needs further discussions to understand the impacts of climate change and MPAs’ roles to address them in North-East Asia.

The 3rd Steering Committee Meeting of the North-East Asian Marine Protected Areas Network (NEAMPAN) will be organized virtually at 15:00-17:00 (GMT+9) on 23 April 2021. Following the adoption of the NEASPEC Strategic Plan 2021-2025 and guidance of the 24th Senior Officials Meeting (2020) of NEASPEC, the SC-3 is expected to discuss NEAMPAN activities in 2021 and beyond. 

NEAMPAN workshop was organized virtually on 15 July 2021 under the theme of “Sharing experiences and challenges in sustainable management of MPAs.”

This workshop (1) presented findings from the NEAMPAN study “Management plans, monitoring and assessment of MPAs”and (2) shared experiences and lessons learned from sustainable management of MPAs; and simultaneous interpretation (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian) will be provided.