South China Sea Knowledge Document on the Procedures for the Selection of Habitat Demonstration Sites

The recommendation of the PCU to the RSTC to use cluster analysis was based on the fact that each RWG had prepared site haracterisation sheets for in excess of forty sites and to select three sites without some form of preliminary screening would have been a difficult, if not impossible task. The argument presented was that clustering resulted in sites being grouped on the basis of their similarity; and that, identifying at least three major clusters and then selecting one priority site from each cluster, would ensure maximum coverage of the range of biological diversity exemplified by sites bordering the South China Sea12. The rationale, in simple terms, was that three contrasting sites would be preferable as demonstration sites, rather than three similar ones if global and regional biological diversity objectives were to be addressed. This approach maximises the range of different environmental and biological conditions encompassed by the three sites selected as demonstration sites within each habitat type.

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