SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review

1. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review Timeline November 2007 signature of Communiqué - SCS & SGP September 2008 signature of Agreement - UNDP & UNEP September 2008 transfer of funds to UNOPS Projects implemented between May 2009 and May 2011 Agreement to: Fund an equal number of SGP projects (12 each) Follow priorities of the SAP Provide training to SGP national co-ordinators in TDA and SAP priorities

2. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review A total of 31 projects in six countries were executed under the partnership SCS Funds = $ 554,702 SGP Funds = $ 541,574 Co-financing = $ 808,495 Total = $1,904,771 Mean Project Size $35,364 grant funds $26,080 co-financing Total $61,444

3. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • Rationale for the Partnership • Difficult for full-sized IW projects to deal with all levels from Central Government down to communities; • SGP has an existing delivery mechanism at the national level to engage communities; • SCS had an inter-governmentally approved SAP with clearly defined targets; • SGP has no framework for IW community level projects; • SCS had various regional fora to engage national co-ordinators with local governments, scientists and regional experts

4. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea • Top priority loss and degradation of coastal habitats, primarily mangrove, seagrass and coral reefs but also coastal lagoons, and coastal freshwater swamp forest. • Second priority issue management failures with respect to the linkage between fish stocks and critical habitats • Pollution neither a priority issue, nor a transboundary one since 10x present nutrient loads would not impact the basin measurably. • However among pollution sources domestic wastes top priority; and, • Nutrients the priority contaminant

5. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • SAP Targets • Seagrass: • 21 areas totaling 26,576 ha to be sustainably managed by 2025; adopt 7 new MPAs focused on seagrass • Mangroves: • 57,361 ha to be transferred to National Parks and MPA • 21,000 ha deforested mangrove land to be replanted; • 11,200 ha degraded forest to be subject to enrichment planting • Coral Reefs: • 53,130 ha in identified sites to be managed by 2015

6. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review SAP Priorities

7. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review SAP Targets for habitat management

8. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • The Impacts of SGP Projects - Community awareness • Meetings, discussions presentation of basic information • Creation of quasi management bodies with: • regular meetings • responsibilities such as mangrove replanting, fisheries patrolling • Exchange between neighbouring communities

9. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • The Impacts of SGP Projects - Socioeconomic benefits • Countering illegal fishing through; physical barriers, and patrolling increases artisanal fish catch; • Sustainable management of swimming crab and land crab; Nypa palm; • Value added to local products including aquarium fish; fish paste; • Development of new sources of income from ecotourism & “home stay

10. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • The Impacts of SGP Projects - Environmental benefits • More difficult to measure except: • some monitoring of habitats; • Increased % cover; • Increased biodiversity • implied environmental improvement by increased; fish catch; • in cases of mangrove and coral reef replanting

11. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • The Impacts of SGP Projects - Wider impacts/replication • Exchange between neighbouring communities: • 4 projects Cambodia, 3 in Indonesia, 1 in Thailand and 3 in Viet Nam • Designation of project individuals as resource persons by provincial and national governments • Recognition of projects as learning or demonstration centres e.g. China project designated as “provincial science popularisation base”; 1 in Thailand selected as a model for mangrove management; 1 in Viet Nam model for community fisheries management

12. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • CONCLUSIONS • The partnership has been effective and beneficial to partners, specifically to: • the national SGP programmes involved, through the provision of an inter-governmentally approved framework for nationally executed international waters projects; • the implementation of the SAP for the South China Sea in terms of significant contributions towards the achievement of the SAP priorities and targets

13. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • CONCLUSIONS • The effectiveness of the partnership reflects the fact that: • the SCS project was able to make use of a GEF approved mechanism for engaging local communities in activities in support of the SAP; • choice of the SGP projects and oversight of their execution was left to the national committees and the SGP operational procedures; • language and communication difficulties were avoided since SGP operates in the national languages of the countries concerned; and, • the SGP mechanism for fund committal and disbursement is rapid and efficient..

14. SCS-SGP Partnership Implementation Review • On the basis of this analysis it may be concluded that: • partnerships between the SGP programme and full-sized GEF international waters projects can be highly effective in mobilizing community involvement in the achievement of SAP targets; • the SGP SCS partnership could be used as a model for future partnerships in other regions.