Under the current baseline, transboundary cooperation on management of shared coastal and marine resources across the BOBLME will remain limited. Some cooperation exists within and between organizations including Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP-IGO), the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC), the Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observing System (IOGOOS), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia and Pacific (NACA), South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP), and Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), and the Regional Plan of Action to Promote Responsible Fishing Practices including Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing in the Region (RPOA-IUU).

The proposed GEF project will strengthen the capacity of stakeholders at all levels (in countries and regional partners) to plan and coordinate management activities at regional level. The project will strengthen regional cooperation between countries and between government agencies within countries with the engagement of civil society and the private sector. The Project will focus on strengthening the mechanisms at regional and national levels for planning, coordination, and monitoring of the BOBLME. The project will support the development of the “Consortium for the Conservation and Restoration of the BOBLME” (CCR-BOBLME) which by the end of the project will meet regularly to promote information exchange and capacity development; monitor BOBLME health and status and monitor progress of the SAP implementation activities and projects. The establishment of the CCR-BOBLME will involve the development of a cooperative agreement for monitoring ecosystems targets in the SAP and compilation, analysis, safe storage and sharing of information of historical baseline ecosystem data at national and regional levels.

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