Stakeholder Forum is working on the UNEP Global Plan of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities (GPA). The specific nature of the project is awareness raising and outreach to all sectors of society about the GPA, its purpose and its relevance as an international mechanism for environmental protection. Stakeholder Forum will continue to work on the UNEP GPA up to and including its Intergovernmental Review in 2006. During that time the emphasis will be on building a network of stakeholders, including civil society, traditional and non-traditional practitioners, providing tools for national assessments, lessons learned and success stories and facilitation of multi-stakeholder processes.

This process will ensure that all sectors of society are able to accept their role and responsibilities in implementing the GPA. The collaborative effort will provide physical and virtual forum’s for stakeholders from around the world to submit their experiences in managing and protecting the marine environmental from land based activities drawing upon and learning from the experiences of others. Furthermore the collaboration from this project seeks to highlight how a non-legally binding agreement can successfully be linked to local, regional and international legislation.
The Project will:

• update and expand the GPA Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM), utilising the 2006 IGR as a strategic focus.
• provide Website development will include a balanced mix of information resource on the GPA and related fields as well as an integrated series of inter-active tools and mechanism, including:
  • News & Media
    • Regular News updates
    • Monthly GPA Policy & News bulletins
    • Dedicated list-server
    • Events diary
  • Inter-active components:
    • Periodic online debates and polls
    • Video Diaries by practitioners
  • Policy Resources
    • Peer Review Commentary
    • Tools for practitioners
    • Templates guidance documents
    • Online Capacity Building briefings
    • National and Regional links
    • Partnerships and Initiatives
    • Technology Banks
• Outreach activities will focus on, but not be limited to, the following strategic meetings:
  • Global Ministerial Environment Forum, 29-31 March 2004, Seoul, Korea
  • Global Hilltops to Oceans (H2O) Partnership Conference 11-14 May 2004, Cairns, Australia.
  • Small Island Development States (SIDS) 10-year review, August 2004, Mauritius