Opening speech by
Ms. Nisakorn Kositratna Director General
Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR)
Opening Speech by
Dr. Srisuda Jarayabhand Coordinator, COBSEA Secretariat
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The Second COBSEA Marine Litter Workshop
18 – 20 September 2008
Pattaya, Thailand
The Second COBSEA Marine Litter Workshop was held on 18 – 20 September in Pattaya, Thailand. It was convened in order to discuss the further implementation of the COBSEA Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP-MALI) that was adopted at the 19 th Intergovernmental Meeting in January 2008 with the aim of enhancing marine litter awareness and management in the East Asian Seas region. The workshop was hosted by UNEP in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand and Pattaya City. It was attended by more than 70 participants from the COBSEA member countries, international organizations, regional bodies and the private sector. The participants were also divided into three groups for discussion on the following issues:
1. National implementation of the RAP-MALI and the private sector partnership: the group identified the raising awareness of marine litter and the preventing and reducing of it from land-based and sea-based sources as priorities for action. The private sector partnership discussion touched on issues pertaining to activities, barriers, mitigations and finance.
2. The Green Fins Programme: Representatives from Countries participating in the Green Fins Programme discussed about the harmonization of materials, the Green Fins website and on the sharing of experiences between COBSEA member countries
3. The Clean Beach Award: the winners from four countries, namely People Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Thailand shared their experiences in beach environment management and on their innovative approaches towards a cleaner beach.
As part of the workshop, there was also an exhibition of the entries of the Green Fins Photo Contest as well as an exhibition of work of art from marine litter. In relation to the International Coastal Cleanup day, a major cleanup of the Pattaya beach was carried out, supported by more than 1000 participants, that included the workshop participants, local organizations, school children, volunteers from institutions of higher learning and many ordinary civic-minded people of Pattaya City. There was also an underwater cleanup of the nearby islands by divers from the Green Fins programme and other volunteers |
