Section 5; Asia 521. SOUTHEAST ASIA MPA NETWORK In 2002, the then LUCN WCPA South-east Asia Marine Working Group (WCPA SEA Marine)' developed a Regional Action Plan to Strengthen a Resilient Network of Effective MPAS In Southeast Asia 2002-2012 (RAP) (Fortes et al, undated) (Box 3) to help co-ordinate, guide and implement the various MPA networks. The initial portfolio included 15 projects, three from each of five themes: planning and design, adaptive management, co-ordination and enforcement, community awareness and development, and sustainable financing. TNC set up a South East Asia Center for MPAS (SEACMPA) in Bali to assist with the establishment of regional networks of MPAS in South-east Asia, undertake training and other capacity building activities, and co-ordinate the implementation of the RAR In 2008, the SEACMPA in Bali was changed to the Coral Triangle Center (CTC) but maintains the same general functions as intended for the SEACMPA. Activities directed at developing a regional MPA network for Southeast Asia will now evolve with the CTI as this develops. Box 3: LUCN WCPA Regional Action Plan for an MPA network in Southeast Asia key components Vision: A region with an effective, self-sufficient and resilient representative network of MPAS, sustaining biodiversity and human uses, designed to adapt to local and global environmental change, managed by an empowered, responsible citizenry. Goal: To establish an effective, functional representative network of MPAS by 2012, that is officially recognized and actively supported at all levels by governments in Southeast Asia, and implemented by a regional national, national andor local management authority. The South-east Asian MPA network should: Be representative of all coastal and oceanic habitats, and the regions biodiversity of residential and migratory marine species; Include replicated sites in order to build resistance and resilience; Integrate biological connectivity and manage critical processes such as larval dispersal and re-seeding, and migratory corridors of large marine life (such as cetaceans and turtles); Be large enough to be self-sustaining in the long-term; Be based on the latest ecoregional planning principles incorporating mitigation strategies; Develop innovative financing mechanisms; Facilitate sharing of management technical assistance across the network; Provide an opportunity for testing high technology distance learning. 522. SULU-SUUWUESI MARINE ECOREGIONSEASCAPE MPA NETWORK At the apex of the Coral Triangle, the SAME or Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape (SSS) an area of nearly one million km2, covers the Sulu-celebes Sea LME and includes parts of the SEEDS of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines (Figure 12, overleaf). From 19992001, biophysical and socio-economic assessments were carried out under the WWF SAME Programme (eg. WWF, 2003 for the Philippines). In 2003, the ecosystems within the broader region were mapped by TNC and ecoregions were defined. A Framework for a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion was developed by WWF (WWF-SAME Program, 2004). In 2004, an MOU was signed between the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to adopt a Conservation Plan for the SOME, and a tri-national Committee has been established to oversee this. The SSS Project of CI, with the involvement of some 30 partners, is now working in this area, with a focus on four corridors the Trinational Sea Turtle Corridor, the Cagayan Ridge, the Balabac Strait, and the Verde Island Passage. The Framework was developed through a series of workshops, with expertise shared through three working groups, each of which developed a separate framework based on information available for the particular issue: Species of Special Concern; Coastal and Marine Ecosystems; and Fisheries. Draft frameworks were prepared in the initial planning process separately for each issue. Subsequently the biophysical and socio-economic matrices were combined into a general framework, using the decision support approach used to design the MPA network for the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. A similar approach was taken for developing the actions required to create, plan and implement the network with three groups established for different WCPA-MARINE now has an East Asian regional group 71