PEMSEA Approves Blue Carbon Protocol at 18th Meeting

PEMSEA's 18th Annual Meeting was held in Singapore from July 22 to 23, 2026, with participation from 10 countries: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam. PEMSEA is an international cooperation framework that promotes environmental management and sustainable development in the coastal seas of East and Southeast Asia.

At the meeting, participants approved a protocol developed to calculate, using a common method, the amount of blue carbon—CO2 absorbed and stored by seagrass, mangroves, and other ecosystems—in East and Southeast Asian countries.

The approved protocol provides a common method for calculating blue carbon absorption. Japan introduced related initiatives, including the Blue Carbon Data Archive System (BDAS). BDAS calculates and visualizes the distribution and area of seagrass beds from measurement data collected using green-laser-equipped drones and other means.

Countries, including Japan, shared information on specific activities under the implementation plan for the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA).

It was decided that the next, 9th East Asian Marine Conference will be held in Indonesia next October.