• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.30-43
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• 2003

The geography, circulation pattern, and ecology show that the semi-closed seas of Northwest Pacific be managed as one complete system. Ongoing multilateral cooperative efforts relevant to marine environmental protection in the Northwest Pacific area, include the Working Group for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) established under the auspices of WNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commissions, the UNDP/GEF Programme on Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in East Asian Seas (PEMSEA), the North Pacific Marine Science Organization(PICES), and the United Nations Environment Programme(WNEP)'s Northwest Pacific Action Plan(NOWPAP). The present report firstly describes the current situations on the existing regional cooperative regimes for marine environmental conservation in the Northwest Pacific region, with a special respect to the Northwest Pacific Action Plan(NOWPAP) which was adopted in 1994 by Japan, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea and Russian Federation. Then, problems of the existing regimes are also discussed, together with the suggestion of the possible solutions, focusing on NOWPAP. Suggestions include: 1) the Northeast Asian countries should understand the importance of legally-binding regional convention, and should build up any legally-binding instrument which can function as a big umbrella for real regional cooperation without prejudice to the rights of the States, 2) At present stage, it will be possible to make a regional convention flexible without prejudice to the sovereign right of the States or territorial issues; 3) taking into account that the region often faces many generic political problems that often inhibit the effective collective actions on environmental issues, the leadership from UNEP or other international organizations is required; 4) strong institutional and financial framework should be made, and 5) multilateral efforts to respond to the new marine environmental threats should be taken at the regional level in order to protect the coastal and marine environments in the Northwest Pacific.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.150-159
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• 2008

The marine litter generated as by-products of human activities and economic development enters to the sea through rivers or stream Indirectly, and through sea-based activities directly. It is commonly comprised of materials that degrade very slowly, such as various plastic products, polystyrene, glass, rubber, metal, wood, derelict fishing nets, wire, rope and so on. Such litter is found in the water column and on the seafloor as well as coastal areas In the Northwest Pacific region. It causes injury or death of human and other living organisms and also accident or damage of the vessel. It is not only a problem of country but also regional and/or global problem because it is transported by currents and winds from one country to another. In this regard, Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) Marine Litter Activity (MALITA) project had been carried out during 2006-2007 biennium and NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) has been also continuously implemented in the 2008-2009 biennium as next phase step of MALITA. MERRAC, one of four Regional Activity Centres (RACs) of NOWPAP, has developed monitoring guidelines, sectoral guidelines, and brochures related to sea-based marine litter and port reception facilities and services through MALITA project. Based upon these output, MERRAC will continuously implement relevant activities of RAP MALI in order to help to establish and improve a regional mechanism to deal with the sea-based marine litter problem. This paper aims to introduce MERRAC activities under MALITA and RAP MALI, and to suggest several recommendations to reduce marine litter in the NOWPAP region.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.120-129
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• 2006

This paper aims at investigating the developments and challenges of Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP), a regional cooperation mechanism to protect marine environment in Northeast Asia. As one of 16 UNEP's Regional Seas Program, NOWPAP has evolved since its inception in 1994. Based on the belief that a cooperative institution may work more efficiently to address common regional concerns on marine environment, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have developed NOWPAP under the UNEP's leadership. NOWPAP now has its own independent secretariat, and 4 regional activity centers while expanding its partnership with other institutions. However, NOWPAP must address several challenges that it now faces for better achievement of its goals. They include consideration of unique geopolitical situation in this region, participation of North Korea, incorporation of sustainable development concept in its activities, reconsideration of equal opportunity principle for more efficient cooperation, and securing sufficient financial resources.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.3-24
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• 2000

The provability of major oil spill acidents around Korean coast is very high due to increase of sea traffic and decrease of quality of ships crews and increase of the old-ship. The Strategies of establishment of a advanced response management system against this mass pollution incident are as follows;. 1. Development of Regional Contingency Plan, which is scientifically illuminated, in order to implement the National Contingency Plan efficiently. 2. Early completion of a national response capability twenty thousand tons. 3. To strengthen training and exorcise specialized in the field of marine pollution response. 4. Establishment of a system of response cooperation among neighbor countries by promoting the NOWPAP tasks etc. The response policy in the 21th century should be concentrated to promote a practicle response capability through response operation scientifically specialized and internationalized by establishing the advanced response system early.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2017.11a
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• pp.132-132
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• 2017

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.186-192
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• 2013

Because of the shallow depth of 44 m and large area of wetland in Korea and China, the class I productivity of Yellow Sea is very high (>300 $gC/m^2/year$), which is supporting substantial populations of fish, invertebrates, marine mammals and seabirds. However, the Yellow Sea is a large marine ecosystem which is enclosed by mainland of China and Korean peninsula, so it is vulnerable to external stress such as environmental degradation and overfishing. Recently, since the Fisheries Agreement between Korea and China, overfishing and illegal fishing of China and environmental degradation caused by coastal development in Korea and China have given much stress to the marine ecosystem of Yellow Sea. This article suggests that the major factors of governance are ineffectively responding to the growing demand for exploitation of the Yellow Sea and the international cooperation for establishing network of Yellow Sea governance is urgent.