Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia Focus on Coastal Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction

Strategic Insights -

Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia, a regional organization dedicated to promoting sustainable marine environmental management, has released a press statement highlighting the World Coastal Forum 2025 Conference. The conference, held under the theme "Beautiful Coasts: Ecological Priority and Green Development," aimed to promote coastal resilience and disaster risk reduction in the face of intensifying global climate change. The Ministry of Natural Resources of China and the International Union for Conservation of Nature jointly released the second batch of International Application of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) in Coastal Areas, highlighting the importance of natural ecosystems in building resilient coastlines.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Ministry of Natural Resources of China has launched a series of protection and restoration initiatives in coastal areas, harnessing the wave-attenuating and embankment-stabilizing functions of natural ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, sandy coasts, seagrass beds, and oyster reefs.
  • The initiatives aim to build a more resilient and secure coastline, while delivering synergistic benefits for both ecosystem health and disaster risk reduction.
  • The 2024 Xiamen Declaration of the 8th Ministerial Forum at the East Asian Seas Congress 2024 elevated integration of Eco-DRR into integrated coastal management programs as region-wide synergistic action.
  • A total of 12 Chinese cities launched an initiative in 2024, calling for in-depth study and application of "Xiamen practices" in line with the concept of ecological civilization.
  • The release of the second batch of case studies aims to share knowledge globally, build consensus, advance the UN SDGs, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Statistics:

  • 82% of global climate change-related threats are attributed to storm surges and coastal erosion.
  • In 2018, the Central Government of China called for implementing coastal protection and restoration projects, building ecological seawalls, and enhancing the capacity to withstand marine disasters such as typhoons and storm surges.
  • Xiamen, China, led an initiative in 2024, calling for in-depth study and application of "Xiamen practices" in line with the concept of ecological civilization.
  • Three more cities, including Republic of Korea, Indonesia, and Spain, have joined Xiamen in the initiative.
  • A total of 9 case studies were published in 2025, with 6 from China, 1 from Republic of Korea, 1 from Indonesia, and 1 from Spain.

Sources:

  • Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia
  • Ministry of Natural Resources of China
  • International Union for Conservation of Nature
  • 2024 Xiamen Declaration of the 8th Ministerial Forum at the East Asian Seas Congress 2024