Summary of the “CSR Forum / Best Practices”

“Sharing best practices for hotels in environmental
and community based CSR programs for Phuket”

Wednesday 13th February 2013, 1.00pm – 5.00pm @ JW
Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa 

Local Phuket sustainability NGO SEEK together with CSR Asia and IUCN hosted a Phuket CSR workshop at the JW Marriott on the 13^th February 2012.

Around 40 GMs, CSR managers and interested parties joined the conversation in considering Phuket’s future and how to make CSR an integral part of any organization.

Hong Kong based CSR Asia’s, Professor Richard Welford, gave the group valuable insight into CSR practices and the strong business case for how to make CSR strategic and embed it into your organizations programs. www.csr-asia.com

CSR programs today are about Localizing international programs and including all stakeholders that include not just employees but also guests and the immediate community. It involves partnerships, supporting B-B relationships learning from other hotels or businesses that may be “competitors”. This brings Phuket stakeholders a commitment to a common purpose.

CSR considerations include big picture purpose: Brand Phuket and what Phuket wants from tourism, our local environmental degradation and halting/reversing the destruction and support for our islands shift to renewable energy.

Other key considerations include responsible supply chain management/ purchasing, better waste management practices, water conservancy & sustainable consumption

Richard suggests that as a start, CSR practitioners on Phuket should think about the following ten priorities:

• Link your CSR strategy to brand, reputation and trust: The biggest business case for CSR is linked to the brand benefits that good CSR can bring. A company’s reputation is based on the perceptions of its stakeholders and connected with the images that the business projects. If these images are based on social responsibility, then reputation is enhanced. Trust from stakeholders is also linked to a clear and committed approach to CSR.

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders: Engaging in an ongoing two-way dialogue with stakeholders and developing meaningful partnerships with them over time is key. Being part of networks of trust wherever the business operates with generate significant goodwill and trust. Treating stakeholders as if they are internalized into governance structures will ensure that decisions are always made with stakeholder’s interests in mind.

• Base all CSR activities on your most material issues: A meaningful dialogue with stakeholders will help to ensure that CSR strategies and programs are based on issues that are important to the business and also important to stakeholders. This should guide all CSR activities including reporting and communications. Concentrate on what is most important and not on the “easy stuff”.

• Create effective management systems: CSR is just like any management function and should be linked to effective management systems. This requires proper planning, effective implementation plans, review, assessments and corrective actions. Management systems will help to embed CSR into the organization and link it to broader business strategy priorities.

• Ensure sufficient resources are invested in CSR: To imagine that CSR is cheap would be wrong. But we need to see resources dedicated to CSR as an investment in brand, reputation and trust and not an expenditure item. But resources extend beyond monetary allocations and include human resources, expertise, influence, leverage, products and services.

• Embed CSR into the whole organization: CSR will only be strategic if everyone in the organization recognizes the benefits and is committed to playing their part in making it effective. Build CSR into job descriptions, train staff and create “CSR Champions” within the organization. Ensure that internal policies, procedures and codes of conduct include reference to the importance of CSR.

• Invest in innovative CSR programs: You will get noticed by developing CSR programs that are based in your most material issues and are different to what everyone else is doing. Go beyond the donations associated with charitable giving and get involved in projects that will have positive impacts for both the community and the business. Involve willing volunteers and create “buzz” about programs within the business. 

• If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it: As you plan your CSR strategies, put in place key performance indicators and where appropriate link these to reward systems. Don’t just measure inputs, such as staff time and monetary invests, think about outputs, outcomes and impacts. Develop meaningful targets and embed these into long term plans for your CSR strategy. 

• Innovation, learning and partnerships for change: None of us has all the answers when it comes to CSR. Create a cycle of continuous improvement where management and staff are encouraged to experiment with new and innovative CSR programs and ensure that the organization learns from both successes and failures. Cooperate with other organizations in building exciting partnerships for development and change. 

• Develop strategic communications: The brand and reputational benefits of strategic CSR will only be realized if there is an effective communications strategy. Do not over-communicate, but at the same time do not be overly modest about the positive impacts that your CSR can create. Think about how to most effectively communicate with different stakeholder groups. And never forget about the importance of internal communications if you want to embed CSR into the organization.

If you are interested in understanding more about how to make CSR strategic, then why not join CSR Asia’s exciting four-day course on Business Strategy for Social Responsibility, held in Bangkok, 26-29 April 2013.

The course looks at practical ways in which you can make CSR strategic and provides participants with a step-by-step tool to focus CSR initiatives. It will also focus on the most recent developments in reporting and strategic communications. Best practices case studies and cutting edge research form the basis of the four day intensive course.

For further information on this standalone course and our professional Master’s degree in CSR, go to: http://csr-asia.com/course_detail.php?id=151

For local Phuket CSR guidelines and support contact Ms.Kanokwan Homcha-aim (Nok) at SEEK Phuket, kanokwan@myseek.org

Participants

A 50,000 foot view of earth in 2011

Paul Chefurka, novelist, futurist.

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/50000_Foot_View.html

We are now well into a global crisis that may mark the end of this cycle of human civilization.  In this note I present a summary of what’s going on as far as I can tell, as well as a scenario for how things might develop over the next 75 years or so.

The issue is enormous, so an overview like this is inevitably going to be skimpy on details.  This is, after all, not an academic journal.  However, like every other fact in the known universe, those details are just a Google away…

Because the global predicament manifests itself in some way in virtually every area of human endeavour, any useful approach to it must be massively cross-disciplinary.  Fruitful areas for investigation include:

Human Issues:

• Politics

• Economics

• Finance (especially the characteristics and behaviour of money)

• History

• Anthropology

• Sociology

• Neuro-psychology

• Agriculture

Energy and Resource Issues:

• Peak Oil and oil production in general

• Classical electrical generation (coal, nuclear and hydro power)

• Renewable electrical generation (wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and biomass)

• Biofuels (including ERoEI considerations)

• Rare Earth metal supplies

• Copper and Iron ore concentrations

Environmental Issues:

• Ecology (especially related to carrying capacity and footprint)

• Climate change

• Ocean acidification

• Methane tipping points (permafrost and oceanic hydrates)

• Species extinctions (including oceanic overfishing)

• Deforestation and desertification

• Fresh water depletion

• Soil fertility depletion

• Pollution: chemicals, heavy metals, radioactive waste, eutrophication, oceanic debris fields etc.

General issues:

• Complex adaptive systems and resilience theory

• Complexity theory and “Liebig’s Law of the Minimum”

• Geoengineering

• Genetic engineering (especially related to agriculture)

• Habitat loss due to human numbers/activity

• Overpopulation

• “Peak Food”

Each of these 30 points is a field of study on its own.  When we realize that “the global problem” is a result of interactions between them, we are faced with a combinatorial explosion of issues that must be considered even to understand what’s going on, let alone to make recommendations.

Most of us will only have enough time and expertise to skim most of the fields I listed, but even a cursory examination reveals a web of interconnections that far exceeds any ability to intellectually “dominate” the problem in its entirely.  It is enough, however, to allow this summary of our predicament to emerge. 

The situation is easier to understand if we look at it in three time frames: the Past, Present and Future.

Looking at the Past involves trying to determine, as honestly and deeply as possible, the origins of the problem, its evolution over time, and the reasons for that evolution.

The Present is, of course, a description of the current situation, both in terms of particular manifestations of the problem in various human domains as well as the interconnections and feedbacks between them.  These interconnections may be between widely different domains, such as the role of neuro-psychology in the adoption of biofuels.

The Future should be considered in two ways: what is possible and what is probable.  When assessing future actions, we should always keep the past in mind: how did we get into this fix in the first place, and how should that inform our response to it? As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Hold on tight, here we go…

The Past:

• Evolution has given human beings a common set of psychological characteristics rooted in our brain structure.  They have been modelled by Dr. Paul MacLean as the “Triune Brain”, which is a useful framework for understanding fundamental human behaviour patterns.  These patterns include such behaviours as dominance, submission, competition, cooperation, altruism, xenophobia and our herding instinct (aka “group-think”).  It also hints at the reasons why most human decisions are non-rational. These neuro-psychological qualities also give us a “hyperbolic discount function” in which distant, abstract threats are heavily discounted relative to immediate, tangible threats – regardless of the relative levels of existential threat involved.

• Human culture is largely determined by the physical situation that exists at any particular place and time – specifically the food and water supply, material resource availability, and the climate.  Culture is our structural response to those conditions, as mediated by our neuro-psychology.  As conditions change, so does our culture.

• Human population, our culture and our impact on the environment were all relatively stable from the first appearance of Homo sapiens 150,000 years ago until about 10,000 years ago.

• Human numbers and environmental impact began to increase dramatically 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. The reason we developed agriculture at that time is open to speculation, but it probably had something to do with changing conditions following the last ice age.

• The development of agriculture was also followed by a significant development of technology (in its broadest sense) that permitted people to manipulate their environment more easily and intensively.

• The invention of writing about 5,000 years ago permitted the cross-generational storage and accumulation of knowledge, assisting the development and dissemination of technology.

• The development of money, also about 5,000 years ago, decoupled the concept of value from the activity that actually generated the value.  The concept of value was largely transferred to the money itself.

• The next major upward break in human numbers and activity began about 200 years ago with the widespread adoption of fossil fuels.  Since 1800 our population has grown from one billion to seven billion. Over 85% of that increase has come since the adoption of oil as our civilization’s keystone energy resource around 1900.

The Present:

There are of course many symptoms of the global problem, but these are representative:

• Climate change due to CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is probably the most significant existential threat humanity faces today.  Climate change is altering weather patterns, causing physical damage though extreme weather events, and is increasingly disrupting rainfall and food production in various regions.

• Soil fertility is plummeting world-wide.

• Fresh water extraction from long-term and fossil aquifer storage is increasing to support the intensification of agriculture.  Water tables are sinking around the world.

• We may have already lost the oceans, because of a combination of over-fishing, acidification, temperature changes, and pollution from plastic waste and agricultural runoff.  Food fish species exploited by humans are near collapse and the entire food chain is showing signs of disruption (e.g. jellyfish population explosions).

• Desertification and deforestation are continuing largely unchecked around the world.

• Species are going extinct at a very rapid rate, from a combination of habitat loss due to human activity, climate change and pervasive pollution.

• The human food supply is showing signs of peaking due to climate change and increasing input costs.

• Many genomes of agricultural species of plants and animals have been streamlined to such an extent that the resilience of the stocks is now in question.

• We hit Peak Oil around 2006.  Global crude oil production has been on a plateau since late 2004 (7 years now) despite massive upward excursions in the price.

• The world economy is in a continuing recession caused by a combination of human factors (excessive complexity and loss of control) and a tightening of resource inputs – especially oil. The symptoms vary from place to place, but the underpinnings are global.

The Future:

The following points constitute a scenario based on my reading, that I believe becomes increasingly probable as the time horizon is pushed out.  Take this as a 75 year scenario.

• Climate change will not be ameliorated by international agreement.  This is due to the cooperation problems identified in the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” game, national and corporate self-interest, a lack of urgency due to the hyperbolic discount function mentioned above, and the complete lack of any realistic substitute for fossil fuels.

• The general replacement of declining oil supplies by biofuels will not succeed due to the low ERoEI of such fuels.

• The global impact of Peak Oil will be made worse as producing nations retain more of their declining oil output to satisfy domestic demand. This will drain the international oil market of most supplies by 2040 or so.

• Over the next 25 years the decline in oil exports will trigger repeated rises in world oil prices.  Those prices will in turn trigger waves of economic instability, with the prices falling during recessions/depressions and surging again during attempted recoveries.

• The amount of capital available for new equipment manufacturing and infrastructure maintenance and development will decline in a stair-step fashion during the repeated recessions, as the global debt bubble implodes.

• Nuclear power will not be developed any further because of public resistance due to the perceived risk.  Some exceptions may occur in autocratic, centrally planned economies (esp. Russia and China).

• While much renewable power will be installed in some places, in global terms renewable power will not save the day.  This will be because of the lack of capital, the huge disparity between current renewable generating capacity and power needs, the inability to upgrade or even maintain national electrical grids, and the difficulty in addressing some transportation problems with electricity.

• Most new electrical generation capacity will be fuelled by natural gas and coal.

• There will be spreading electrical grid breakdowns as poorly-maintained infrastructure fails.

• The human food supply will fail to keep pace with population growth, probably starting within the next two to five years.  Despite international aid, famines will begin to spread out of sub-Saharan Africa into the rest of that continent and Asia.  Pockets of starvation will begin to appear in developed nations over the next decade or two.

• International tensions will rise over access rights to water, oil and gas.  Regional and civil wars will become more common.

• Populations will panic, and demand strong protective measures from their governments.  This will result in an increase in repressive, bellicose authoritarian regimes.  Asymmetric warfare will increase.

• The use of transportation to move food from consuming to producing regions will become increasingly difficult, unreliable and expensive.  This will cause a re-localization of food production, but some regions will not have enough land, water or skills – or a suitable climate – to permit the replacement of imported food supplies.

• Sanitation infrastructure will suffer for the same reason as electrical grids – the progressive lack of capital for maintenance and refurbishment.  Sanitation failures will trigger disease outbreaks.

• Fertility rates and birth rates are likely to plummet world-wide over the next 30 years, due to the same influences seen in Russia from 1987 to 1993 during the break-up of the Soviet Union.  These changes will largely be driven by personal choice rather than centralized planning and legislation.

• Mortality rates will begin to climb somewhat later, due to food supply problems and the regional spread of communicable “breakdown” diseases like cholera, typhoid and dysentery. The spread of diseases will be aided by the breakdown of local and regional sanitation and health care systems.

• Population growth will slow faster than the UN currently projects.  World population may reach a peak of between 7 and 8 billion between 2030 and 2040, and then begin to decline.  The speed of the decline is unknowable.  The world population will begin to stabilize as it drops below two billion.

• The world’s political landscape will undergo massive changes.  In some cases there will be fragmentation as regional populations secede or are increasingly isolated by traditional geographic barriers (mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans and deserts).  In other cases there will be amalgamations as wars of conquest are fought over resource access rights.

I do not believe, based on what I have learned, that new technological developments offer any hope for escaping this scenario.  Much of the possibility for technological development hinges on the availability of capital and oil, both of which will be in increasingly short supply in the coming decades.

Some technological developments will cushion the shocks in some places.  For instance the OECD may be able to make use of new low-energy or renewable technologies.  However, the probability that such changes will penetrate deeply enough into Africa and Asia to prevent catastrophe is, in my estimation, vanishingly small. And in the end, the entropic forces at work may overrun even the most technologically sophisticated regions.

I do not support the use of genetic engineering or biotechnology to address the food supply problem.  In my opinion the risks are too great and the probability of success is too low.  Nor do I support the further development of nuclear power, for similar reasons.

In any event, what we face is not, at its heart, a technology problem amenable to an engineering solution.  What we have is an ecological problem.  We are in an overshoot situation relative to the ecological underpinnings that are required to support life, as well as having drawn down most of the accessible resources on which our civilization’s operation now depends.  Our numbers and our needs have filled our ecological niche, which we have expanded to include the entire planet.

The good news is that human extinction is extremely unlikely.  This is a very large planet, and we are a very resilient species.  There is evidence that we rebounded from the Toba bottleneck when our species was reduced to at most a few tens of thousands of individuals.  Barring a cosmic accident, humans will be around for a long time.  Our current civilization, though, is quite another matter.  On that scale we are about out of time, resources and options.

So what do we do about it?  It’s not in our nature to simply roll over and give up – our survival instinct is, after all, built into the oldest reptilian part of our brains.

There will be some governments that will come to their senses in time, and have the courage to institute helpful measures.  Unfortunately, institutional responses will usually be reactive rather than proactive.  The worse the situation becomes before they take action, the more likely it becomes that panic will cloud the decision-makers’ judgement, leading to short-sighted, mistaken and ultimately harmful policies.

Most of the effective preparation for the coming changes will happen where it always does – at the individual level. This is already happening as people break free from the group-think of their cultures, wake up and realize what’s going on.

This awakening is the source motivation that feeds all the small, local independent environmental and social-justice groups that are springing into being like antibodies throughout the infected bloodstream of our global culture.  These groups are independently addressing local problems as diverse as water rights, education, local food production, environmental cleanup, social justice issues, home energy production, local currencies, cooperative housing and child care – the list is effectively endless.

As these groups do their work, they also wake up many of those they come in contact with, to one degree or another.  There may be over two million such groups in existence today, and there is one or more in every city on the planet.  As far as I can tell their number is growing by about 30% per year.  They are the true repository of hope in a gloomy landscape.

“Big solutions” are what got us into our current predicament.  I reject the notion that more big solutions will get us out.  Instead I prefer to count on the boundless courage, compassion, and ingenuity of individuals.  People like you.

Paul Chefurka
July 8, 2011

Stewardship is a word that needs to be an understanding, for all those living around and operating within Phang Nga Bay. And stewardship is education, life style and involvement, and that is a place where we can get involved.

We all know Phang Nga Bay is being stressed with excessively destructive toursim and pressures from the surrounding communities. There is a general decline in fish populations, living reefs and general water quality.

Our mission is to serve as a sort of clearing house for projects needing resources, and resources needing projects.

http://www.phangngabayconservancy.org/about/

The Thai Diving association (TDA) was founded on 12 December 2004 and registered as an officially association in Thailand on 20 March 2005.

TDA is the national diving association of Thailand and internationally recognized by being full voting member of the world underwater federation CMAS.

More than 120 countries worldwide are associated with CMAS as they, same as TDA, follow the high and safe diving standards and the same structure of CMAS organization.

Therefore the TDA also is allowed to call itself proudly “CMAS Thailand!” Same as CMAS, TDA is internationally recognized and cooperates with:

• UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

• IOC (International Olympic Committee)

• IUCN (The World Conservation Union)

• GAISF (General Association of Sport Federations)

• IWGA (International World Games Association)

The main structure of CMAS and all associated diving federations, as well TDA, is mainly based on a steering board, committees and commissions

 Technical Committee

• Diving Standards and Training
• Diving Techniques and Diving Equipment
• Diving Security
• Technical Diving (Nitrox, Rebreather, Trimix, Gasblender…)
• UW Photo and Video
• Speleology (Cavern and Cave Diving)
• Affiliated Members
• Commissions for above Departments

 Scientific Committee

• Biology
• Oceanology
• Archaeology
• Geology
• Marine Life and Coastal Environmental Protection and Conservation
• Commissions for above Departments

 Sports Committee

• Fin Swimming
• Apnoe Disciplines
• Orientation
• Hockey
• Rugby

 Commissions

• Medical Commission (science and support of hyperbaric and diving medicine)
• Legal Commission ( legal advice and support for association and members)
• Marketing Commission ( marketing and public relations to promote the association)
• Representatives in all major diving regions of Thailand, as well in Germany and Philippine es.

 TDA progress

• Promote the diving tourism of Thailand with TDA delegation and booth at
  • CMAS General Assembly 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
  • World biggest boat and diving exhibition, BOOT, Germany 2006, 2007, 2008
  • TDEX, Bangkok 2006, 2007, 2008
  • Cooperation with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote diving tourism and events/exhibitions.
  • TDA was elected to host the CMAS General Assembly 2009 for the 50 year’s anniversary of CMAS on Phuket in Thailand.
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation and bilateral support between TDA and Royal Thai National Park Headquarters Bangkok, Sukothai,
• Thammarat University Bangkok, Marine and Environmental Department Thailand, Archaeological Department of Thailand, Prince of Songkhla University, Phuket,
• Ministry of Sports and Tourism, Phuket, Royal Thai Navy 3rdDivision, Phuket and Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation.
• TDA collected more THB 3.000.000 after Tsunami for donations.
• TDA successfully supports the Phuket diving industry with legal advice and action according new “dive regulations” and new National Park rules on Phuket and Similan Islands.
• Cooperation with Badalveda Hyperbaric Chamber Network and automatically insurance free of charge for all TDA Students and members.
• Cooperation with divemaster insurance international insurance company
• Standards and guidelines for all levels of diving certificates and diving training.
• More than 200 TDA/CMAS instructors in Thailand (Thai nationals and foreigners)
• More than 100 TDA/CMAS academies and supporting members in Thailand
• Conduct more than 1.500 diving courses with TDA/CMAS certificates
• Conduct instructor courses for Royal Thai Navy Seals, Marine Police and Royal Thai National Park Rangers.
• Trained Sea Gypsies in safe diving practices
• TDA created and found sponsorship to realize artificial reef project (Phuket)
• Numerous beach and reef cleaning events throughout the country
• Reef monitoring seminars and projects
• TDA established a Thai Monofin National Team that participated already at:
  • Asian Championships, Akita, Japan, 2006
  • World Championships, Torino, Iltaly, 2007

http://www.tda-thailand.org/

Why Green Fins? 

Monitoring of the socio-economic impacts/benefits of coral reefs has been noted as a common and urgent need in the SE Asian region. As a contribution to, and in support of, relevant work undertaken in the region, the US counterpart contributions are used by “Green Fins” who have created a network of dive operators that offer tours according to a set of environmentally- friendly guidelines. 

The “Green Fins” initiative strengthens the involvement and role of dive operators as an important stakeholder and partner in the protection, conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs, and raises the environmental awareness for coral reefs. In support of the “Green Fins” initiative, capacity building activities and training workshops are often organised.

http://www.greenfins-thailand.org/greenfins/index.php?m=home&lang=thai

http://www.boblme.org/

Background

Over 400 million people in the Bay of Bengal area are dependent on coastal and marine resources for their food, livelihood and security. Rapid population growth, high dependence on resources and increased land use has resulted in over exploitation of fishstocks and habitat degradation, and has led to considerable uncertainty whether the ecosystem will be able to support the livelihoods of the coastal populations in the future.
 
Despite the large number of international, regional and sub-regional bodies and programmes operating in the Bay, none have a clear mandate, geographical scope and/or capacity to support a regional initiative that would effectively address the issues confronting the coastal communities of the BOB. Furthermore, the current existence of many ineffective policies, strategies and legal measures at the National level would likely impede the development of any regional arrangements. Other major constraints include weak institutional capacity at national levels, insufficient budgetary commitments, and lack of community stakeholder consultation and empowerment.
 
Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, have declared their willingness to work together through the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) Project and lay the foundations for a coordinated programme of action designed to improve the lives of the coastal populations through improved regional management of the Bay of Bengal environment and its fisheries. 

The Project has five components

Component 1. Strategic Action Programme:
preparation of a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) whose implementation will ensure the long-term institutional and financial sustainability of the BOBLME Programme, including
1.1. Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis preparation –building on the BOBLME’s existing draft Framework Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and complete the Programme’s TDA.
1.2. BOBLME institutional arrangements –identifying and establishing agreed to permanent institutional arrangements ensuring the long-term management of the BOBLME.
1.3. Sustainable financing strategy and recommendations –identifying a possible financing mechanism(s) to fund BOBLME management structure and assist BOBLME countries to mobilize financial resources/mechanisms to implement the SAP
1.4. Strategic Action Programme formulation and adoption –a process for the formulation of an agreed Strategic Action Programme (SAP).
 
Component 2. Coastal/Marine Natural Resources Management and Sustainable Use:
development and implementation of regional and sub-regional collaborative approaches to common/shared issues affecting the health and status of BOBLME, including
2.1. Community-based integrated coastal management – stock-taking/lesson learning of information and experience for promotion of community-based, fisheries and habitat management; co-management; and alternative livelihoods among fisher communities in the region
2.2. Improved policy harmonization – obtaining a better understanding of the policy processes and enhanced capacity in the formulation of policy, regional exchange of information on policy and legislation (inputs to SAP)
2.3. Collaborative regional fishery assessments and management plans – developing collaborative regional fishery assessments, regional and sub-regional management plans, and harmonization of data collection and standardization to promote collaborative fisheries management approaches
2.4. Collaborative critical habitat management – promoting multi-national approaches to manage and address issues affecting transboundary coastal/marine ecosystems within the broader BOBLME region.
 
Component 3. Improved Understanding and Predictability of the BOBLME Environment:
the sharing information with other regional and global environmental monitoring programmes for improved understanding of the BOBLME ecological functions and processes, including
3.1. Improved understanding of large-scale processes and dynamics affecting the BOBLME – including large-scale oceanographic and ecological processes controlling BOBLME living resources 
3.2. Marine Protected Areas in the conservation of regional fish Stocks – obtaining consensus on approaches to the establishment and management of marine protected areas and fish refugia for sustainable fish management and biodiversity conservation objectives
3.3. Improved regional collaboration – establishing effective partnerships with other regional and global environmental assessment and monitoring programmes. 
 
Component 4. Maintenance of Ecosystem Health and Management of Pollution:
development of agreed set of environmental indicators to measure the health of the BOBLME regional collaborative approach to identifying/ remediating important coastal water pollution issues, including
4.1. Establishment of an effective ecosystem indicator framework Agreed ecosystem indicator framework designed to measure progress toward sustaining BOBLME health. 
4.2. Coastal pollution loading and water quality criteria Development of a regional collaborative approach to identifying important coastal water pollution issues and to develop remedial strategies
 
Component 5. Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Knowledge Management:
establishment and of cost-efficient management, of project operations, M&E, and information dissemination capacity, including
5.1. Establishment of the regional coordination unit (RCU) – establishing a RCU for coordination of BOBLME supported activities leading to the finalization of the Strategic Action Programme. 
5.2. Monitoring and evaluation system – establishing a cost-effective monitoring and evaluation system in conformity with existing FAO and World Bank policies and procedures.
5.3. Project information dissemination system – disseminating information to regional and global stakeholders relevant to the BOBLME and the BOBLME Programme.
 
 

Executing Agency

 
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. It helps developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all. Since its founding in 1945, FAO has focused special attention on developing rural areas, home to 70 percent of the world’s poor and hungry people.
 
The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has been in Bangkok and working in the Bay of Bengal area for over 50 years. It has an impressive track record of work in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in support of food security, rural poverty alleviation, and institutional and human capacity building; and a proven ability to execute regional and national field projects in a wide range of disciplines. The BOBLME Project will also involve FAO working in areas of fisheries and resource management that it has championed and gained considerable world-wide recognition.
 

The donor agencies

 
The BOBLME Project is funded principally by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), Norway, the Swedish Internal Development Agency, FAO, participating Governments and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) with a total estimated budget of $USD 31 million over five years.

http://www.tda-thailand.org/