Restoring and protecting one of the world’s most significant Large Marine Ecosystems – the Yellow Sea: Launch of “The YSLME Story”
With some 700 marine species including fish, crustaceans, mollusks and others, the Yellow Sea is a unique marine ecosystem that serves as the home of several endangered and threatened marine mammals and is a key stop over site for 50 million migratory birds. Key economic sectors in the Yellow Sea include fisheries, aquaculture, oil and gas, port development and tourism. In the early 1990s, the Yellow Sea was one of the most degraded of the world’s 64 Large Marine Ecosystems, facing significant pollution, overfishing, invasive species and habitat loss, with associated socioeconomic impacts on the 200 million people who reside in the Yellow Sea’s coastal area. In the mid-nineties, a new partnership aimed at restoring and protecting the Yellow Sea was initiated between UNDP, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea. Over the next twenty years, a series of GEF-financed projects has supported both countries in the identification and implementation of significant stress reduction measures which have demonstrably improved overall environmental quality in the ecosystem.
4343: UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea LME Phase II Project
