YSLME PMO NEWSLETTER

Yellow Sea Partnership Workshop
The Partnership Workshop in Beijin, China	The Project has actively been seeking co-operation with relevant international organisations and NGOs, to enhance the effectiveness of its own conservation activities and the transmission of information produced by this project to a greater stakeholdership.
The Project Management Office (PMO) for the YSLME Project has been exploring the possibility, and the concrete mechanisms, for successful co-operation with a number of organisations (such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Wetlands International (WI), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), and the United Nations Environment Programme Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP). During dialogues with these partners, considerable mutual benefit was realised in terms of data and information sharing and the sharing of effort and expertise; however, it was acknowledged that the inter-relationship between the varieties of partners was highly complex and dynamic. This ‘multiplicity of input’ formed the impetus for the development of a ‘Yellow Sea Partnership Public Awareness and Communications Strategy.’ This public awareness and communications strategy was developed to produce a basic framework for coordinated actions of the numerous groups involved in the ‘Yellow Sea Partnership (YSP)’, including initially the YSLME, the WWF/KEI/KORDI Yellow Sea Eco-region Planning Programme (YSEPP), the MSC, and Wetlands International. The partnership is open and available for participation by any organisation interested in the activities identified in this strategy and additional partnerships have since been pursued. The strategy is considered a ‘work in progress’, the contents of which will built-upon over time, particularly as more stakeholders are identified, partnerships made and lessons learned. It will be executed and evolved on a continual basis. A “Yellow Sea Partnership Workshop” was held (Beijing, China, 15-16 March 2006) with the objective to agree upon the final format of the YSP Public Awareness and Communications Strategy, and develop a mechanism for the co-operative participation of the members of the ‘Yellow Sea Partnership’ in an effort to raise local, national, regional and international awareness of the problems faced by the Yellow Sea and how the ecosystem can be improved by the mitigation or elimination of these problems. It is anticipated that this effort will lead to the strengthening of public support and participation in actions leading to the mitigation or elimination of these problems. Other objectives of the First Yellow Sea Partnership workshop were to: • Introduce the members of the Yellow Sea Partnership; • Ensure that the requirements of each partner and their respective stakeholders are incorporated into activities under the overall Yellow Sea Partnership Strategy; • Plan Partnership actions/activities for the immediate future and coordinate partner input; and • Identify resources that are available to the partnership, and/or that each partner can provide. The successful outcomes from the workshop were: 1. An Agreement on the Yellow Sea Partnership Strategy - Its aims, purpose, targets/stakeholders, key messages, calls-to-actions and expected outcomes. 2. An agreed mechanism of operation for the Partnership. 3. Agreement on areas of collaboration, contribution and responsibility, and timing of activities. 4. An Agreement on Methods for the Evaluation of Success. 5. A Statement of Cooperation ratified by participating entities for the YS Partnership. The workshop agreed on the list of stakeholder groups to be targeted in the Yellow Sea Public Awareness and Communications Strategy. The nine groups are: Community Based Organisations; Scientific/Academic communities; National and Local Government Agencies; Legislative Bodies; Non-government organisations; The General Public and Media; The Donor Community; Industry and Consumers; and finally, Youth Groups. The meeting also agreed on the following mechanisms that are proposed by the strategy to be considered to target the identified groups: • Public awareness events (competitions, contests, exhibitions, etc) • Public awareness conferences • Public awareness training workshops • Scientific workshops • High-level national planning/legislation process meetings • Provision of multi-language Information through print and electronic media • Development, production and distribution of promotional Items. At the meeting, Partners held initial discussions regarding concrete proposals for actions/activities (e.g. titles and descriptions of workshops, public awareness activities, etc.), individual areas of participation (sole or joint), proposed timing of proposed actions/activities, and available resources (budget, labour, networks, etc) for actions/activities. The meeting developed an ‘Implementation Matrix’ in order to facilitate the coordination of input, collaboration and allocation of resources between partners for the actions and activities under the multiple sub-strategies derived from the above discussions. During the meeting, partners ratified a ‘Joint Statement of Cooperation’ for the ‘Partners of the Yellow Sea’ (see link). After the workshop, the YSP is in the process of finalising the implementation plan and schedule for the comprehensive, collaborative public awareness activities that will be executed over the next few years. Link to YSP “Joint Statement of Cooperation”