• East Asian region (North-East and South-East Asia) encompasses wide range of rich and diverse marine and coastal ecosystems including the "Coral Triangle", the global center of marine biodiversity. Coral Reefs and related ecosystems are sustaining vast majority of livelihood and economic health of these coastal nations. Yet many of the reefs are at high risk and need urgent actions to be taken to improve conservation and management.
• Marine Protected Area (MPA) has been recognized as one of the most effective tools to conserve such marine and coastal ecosystems. In this context, the international community has committed to develop representative networks of MPAs by 2012 at WSSD and CBD COP7.
• ICRI has a role to facilitate the global efforts in conserving coral reefs and related ecosystems and reversing their degradation, and have encouraged its members to take urgent actions in the Recommendation on Developing MPA Networks adopted at the General Meeting in Tokyo, April 2007. The subsequent Mexico-US Secretariat (2007-2009) and France-X (2009-2010) Secretariat have continued to focus MPAs and their regional approaches in their Secretariat's Plan of Action.
• Up to now, ICRI East Asia Regional Workshops have been held three times and developed regional policy documents, such as East Asia Seas Regional Strategy (1996, Bali), Okinawa Declaration (1997, Okinawa), and East Asia Policy Agenda on Marine Protected Areas as a Strategy for Coral Reef Conservation and Management (2001, Cebu) (See: ICRI Regional Workshops for relevant documents). However, implementation of these policies has not been followed-up afterwards.
• Although there have been many regional and national initiatives and programs going on and some tangible progress have been made in East Asia on MPAs/MPA networks, most of the countries are still at a developing stage toward MPA global target and many challenges are remaining.
• To facilitate conservation of coral reefs and related ecosystems through developing of MPA networks in East Asia, Japan has committed to organize the regional workshops in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and to conduct corresponding activities in cooperation with East Asian countries and partners until 2010. These series of regional workshops and activities aims to: (1) take stock information of MPA implementation, identifying gaps and challenges, and (2) develop a regional strategy as a basis for regional cooperation and to support national efforts.
• The participants of the International Coral Reef Marine Protected Area Network Meeting / 4th ICRI East Asia Regional Workshop (17 - 19 November, 2008 - Tokyo, Japan) discussed how to enhance and assist regional and national MPA network development in East Asia for coral reefs and related ecosystems to achieve WSSD/CBD 2012 MPA targets (See: Summary Record), and came up with some suggested actions to take in the next two years, which was subsequently compiled and agreed as the Provisional Plan 2009-2010.

The main objective of the Provisional Plan 2009-2010 is that, by 2010, the ICRI East Asia partners will:

1. Conduct regional level MPA gap analysis on coral reefs and related ecosystems in East Asia region to identify gaps toward achieving WSSD/CBD 2012 MPA targets;
2. Address some of the identified gaps that could be filled; and
3. Compile suggested actions and strategies to fill the prioritized gaps into ICRI Regional Strategy on MPA networks to support countries in the region to enhance MPA network efforts.

The duration of the Provisional Plan 2009-2010 is from the 2008 workshop (November 2008) until the end of CBD COP-10 (October 2010).

ICRI member countries in East Asia and other relevant East Asian governments and organizations interested in this initiative are the main constituents to implement the Provisional Plan 2009-2010. A working group was formed as the main driving force to conduct specific tasks in the Provisional Plan 2009-2010. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment will serve as the secretariat of this initiative and will chair the working group. The working group will conduct agreed tasks between the workshops in parallel, and the progress will be reported and reviewed in the 2009 and 2010 workshops. If you are interested in the working group, contact Kohei Hibino.

The workshop participants in 2008 have agreed to conduct the following actions to help achieve the overall objectives. These actions are subjected to review and updating, and additional actions may be added upon discussion and agreement in the 2009 and 2010 workshops. The action items stipulated in the Provisional Plan 2009-2010, therefore that will be conducted until 2010 includes the followings:

ACTION #1: Conduct regional MPA gap analysis to identify gaps toward achieving WSSD/CBD 2012 MPA target goals

ACTION #2: Address some of the key gaps that were identified in the 2008 workshop to be filled until 2010. The actions include the followings:

• ACTION #2-1: Upgrade regional MPA database
• ACTION #2-2: Organize regional workshop for assessing MPA management effectiveness and provide appropriate standards
• ACTION #2-3: Review and modify CBD criteria on MPA networks in the context of the region and conservation of coral reefs and related ecosystems
• ACTION #2-4: Consider regional level social network mechanism to support MPA development and management
• ACTION #2-5: Conduct mapping of coral reefs in East Asia region

ACTION #3: Develop the ICRI East Asia Regional Strategy on MPA networks to support countries in the region address the prioritized gaps

ACTION #4: Organize ICRI East Asia Regional Workshops in 2009 and 2010 to follow-up the implementation of the Provisional Plan 2009-2010

For any inquiries about this initiative or the workshops, contact Kohei Hibino.