The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report noted that marine ecosystems including the open oceans, coastal seas, and estuaries provide a multitude of services including provision of food, water, building materials, and medicine. Fisheries and associated industries reliant on healthy marine areas provide employment to millions of people.  The marine ecosystems also regulate climate and natural hazard. While valuable provisioning and regulating services are being provided by the marine areas, they are rapidly being degraded worldwide. To restore and sustain the productivity, biodiversity and ecological services of the marine environment, effective conservation tools are needed. Following the broad ecosystem approach to resource conservation and management, the establishment of marine protected areas is considered a key tool that can be used primarily to protect ecological structures and function; establish control sites for scientific research studies; conserve habitat; and protect vulnerable plant or animal species in the marine environment.

In support to the increasing awareness on the need to address the threats to the marine ecosystem, the 7th Conference of Parties (CoP7) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) developed the Programme of Work on Protected Areas (POWPA), which aims to improve the coverage, representativeness and management of protected areas (PAs), nationally, regionally and globally. The CBD proposes that governments carry out a gap analysis to find out if and where a country’s current protected area system falls short of protecting all biodiversity. The CBD emphasizes that the aim is not simply to increase the number of PAs but that these, as far as possible, should be designed and located in the best places to conserve biodiversity and that they should be determined by a multi-stakeholder process. An early stage in identifying new protected areas is carrying out a gap analysis of biodiversity and existing protected areas to identify what should be included in the protected area network.  For the marine environment, the POWPA proposes for member states to complete a network of marine protected areas approximately covering 10% of countries’ marine areas by 2012.

At the regional level, Southeast Asia is home to the Coral Triangle covering three ASEAN member states: Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. The Coral Triangle has been recognized as a marine mega-bio-diverse area in the world. Past studies (Cheung et al, 2002) on the region’s marine protected areas indicated that anthropogenic activities resulting in environmental degradation have the greatest impact on Southeast Asia’s marine ecosystem. During the last ASEAN Heritage Park (AHP) Conference in Sabah, Malaysia held in 2007, it was reported that only 10% of SEA’s marine protected areas are effectively managed; 8% of the coral reefs are under MPAs; and 88% of coral reefs are under threat. The identified gaps include: (a) management effectiveness (and transboundary management); (b) representation (effective management network); (c) prioritization and identification of sites of global/regional significance (to preserve biodiversity); and (d) coordination (share information, combine resources and capacity building.

The Kinabalu Action Plan prepared during the AHP Conference also noted that SEA is lagging behind in certain global agreements on marine biodiversity and in certain areas, no protection has been established. It was recommended that MPA work should move towards improving effectiveness, declare larger areas and use a combination of feasible management efforts.  One of the activities identified is the conduct of gap analysis for marine protected areas.

As an initial step to supporting the AMS in undertaking the gap analysis for marine protected areas, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) conducted an Experts Meeting on ASEAN Marine Gap Analysis in Bali, Indonesia in November 2008 to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of marine protected area management. More specifically, the meeting was held to enhance the participants’ understanding of the process of gap analysis and to generate preliminary maps showing the distribution of MPAs overlaid with distribution of coral reefs and other marine resources in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Viet Nam.

A follow up regional workshop on the Marine Gap Analysis is planned in September 2009. To support preparatory work for this workshop, ACB will provide technical assistance in the amount of up to FIVE THOUSAND United States Dollars (USD 5,000) to support selected AMS who have not yet completed or initiated their national marine gap analysis exercise.

I. Objectives of the TA

Supplemental funding to a maximum of USD 5,000.00 to the AMS can be used in support of activities for data compilation, processing,  analysis, and reporting on Marine Gap Analysis (e.g., stakeholders consultation meetings, data compilation and consolidation, processing and analysis, draft report writing, supplies and communication costs only).  The TA is for the implementation of activities within five (5) months.

II. Target Beneficiaries

During the last Experts Meeting on Marine Gap Analysis held in Indonesia in 2008, the countries covered were Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Viet Nam.  While Indonesia and Viet Nam were invited in the recent Experts meeting, they have not yet completed the marine gap analysis process.  So the AMS that will be covered for the TA support are as follows: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

III. Expected Outputs

The overall output per AMS is a draft national Marine Gap Analysis report (Annex 1: National Marine Gap Analysis Report Format) which will be presented during the Marine Gap Analysis workshop in September. In addition, the AMS will also provide ACB the following:

• Stakeholders Consultation Meeting Minutes/Action Plan
• Compiled electronic files of statistics and maps (Annex 2 for the  list and specifications)
  

See Procedures to Request for the TA