Story | 18 Jul, 2017

U.S.-ASEAN Conference on Marine Environmental Issues to be held in Bangkok, Thailand

The Stimson Center, on behalf of the U.S. State Department and in collaboration with IUCN and the Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Programme, is co-chairing the U.S.-ASEAN Conference on Marine Environmental Issues.

content hero image

Event partners

Photo: Event partners

The two-day conference will take place in Bangkok, Thailand on 14-15 September 2017. The conference aims to bring together 40-50 marine experts from think tanks, academia, the private sector, nongovernmental organisations and governments across ASEAN member countries, as well as from the United States, India, Japan and Australia. At the event, coastal and marine experts will discuss a wide variety of marine environmental issues facing Southeast Asia.

Building on the many inaugural commitments announced at the Our Oceans Conference 2016 and the recent UN Ocean Conference, the U.S.-ASEAN Conference on Marine Environmental Issues will provide the opportunity to explore policy strategies to meet the call of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. The conference will serve as a model to showcase and develop regional collaborative efforts, policies and technical work which can support SDG14 implementation and preparation for the Our Oceans Conference 2018 in Indonesia. The goal of the conference is to provide attendees the opportunity to build networks for future research and collaboration, as well as to make recommendations for policymakers in ASEAN member states at a multi-lateral level. Moreover, the conference will reiterate and reassure that U.S. stakeholders in the government, academia and private industry are engaged in these critical issues. 

The conference will bring together experts with extensive background on the following topics, each of which represents a separate conference session: Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing; Small-Scale Fisheries; Marine Protected Areas; Natural Disaster Resilience; Ocean Pollution; the Blue Economy; Sustainability and Traceability of Fisheries and Fish Products; Port State Measures Agreement and Port Security; Marine and Coastal Resource Management; and Corals and Mangroves Protection and Restoration.


For further information please contact Ms Nathisha Pattrom (nathisha.pattrom@iucn.org).

Click the link on the right-hand side to download the conference agenda.