APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center

      To implement the APEC Leaders' Declarations and ocean-related Action Plans, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center (AMSDC) was officially unveiled at the Beijing Great Hall on November 1, 2011, and received the congratulatory letter from the vice premier of the State Council Li Keqiang. APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center is located in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China, supported by Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources. AMSDC aims to promote the development and cooperation of blue economy in APEC region, strengthen marine environmental protection and ecosystem-based marine management, and continue to enhance the capacity building of marine sustainable management in APEC region through these activities, such as policy research, decision-making consultation, discussion and training, communication and consultation, as well as carrying out demonstration projects and technical assistance.

The Unveiling Ceremony

I. Continue to Promote the Development and Cooperation of Blue Economy in APEC Region

      So far, as one of the important platforms to promote blue economy cooperation in the Asia-pacific region, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center has successfully held five APEC Blue Economy Forums, with about 800 participants from 21 APEC member economies including Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Thailand and the United States,etc.,  APEC Non-member economies such as Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Tuvalu, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the World Ocean Council (WOC), and other international organization representatives.

      By implementing APEC Blue Economy demonstration projects and promoting blue economy information sharing, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center promotes the cooperation between public and private sector in developing blue economy, shares the approach and best practices of blue economy development in APEC region, gradually implements the Blue Economy Development Pilot Areas in the field of coastal ecosystem conservation and restoration, sustainable utilization of marine resources and ecosystem services, sustainable development of marine economy, marine disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as the approach of the area-based management in the marine and coastal areas.

APEC Blue Economy Forum

II. Strengthening Marine Environmental Protection and Marine Ecosystem-based Management

      Strengthening marine environmental protection and safeguarding ocean health have been the priorities of the APEC Ocean and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG). In recent years, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center has been engaged in marine debris prevention and participated in the formulation of the strategic action plan and  work plan of the APEC Ocean and Fisheries Working Group on marine debris. APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center successfully held three APEC International Workshops on Marine Debris in Xiamen in 2017,Beijing in 2018 and Xiamen 2019 respectively, which strongly promoted the process of marine debris cooperation in APEC region.

      In the field of marine environmental protection and ocean management, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center carried out a number of APEC projects to continuously strengthen the cooperation with APEC economies, and promote the concept of ecological civilization, namely, " Clear waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver”, so as to strengthen the management of natural resources and marine ecosystem-based management, gradually promote the Marine Protected Areas Network and  continuously contribute to marine environment protection.

APEC MPA Management Capacity Building Training

III. Conducting the Capacity Building Activities  on APEC Marine Sustainable Management

      APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center has conducted eight training workshops on the topics, including Marine Spatial Planning, Integrated Coastal Management, the establishment and management of marine protected areas, coastal ecological tourism and eco-aquaculture, etc., attracting 400 participants from 18 APEC economies such as Australia, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Thailand,  the United States, Vietnam and APEC Non-member economies such as Sri Lanka, Germany, Madagascar, Israel, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The training workshops have implemented the activities related to the capacity building of Marine management in the Strategic Plan of APEC Ocean and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG), accumulated rich training materials, established stable contact with some APEC economies, and promoted the capacity building of Marine sustainable management in APEC.