Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and
Thailand are working together through the Bay of Bengal Large Marine
Ecosystem (BOBLME) Project to improve the lives of coastal populations
through better management of the Bay of Bengal environment and its
fisheries. This five year project will focus on strengthening and
harmonizing the management capability in each participating country, and
gaining a better understanding of the major marine resources and the
environment.

This will include a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) to identify and prioritize the major regional environmental concerns and their root causes, and the drafting of a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) to address and remediate them. Some activities will focus on developing ways to enable communities to become involved in resource management. As the work of the project will go beyond fisheries and environmental activities, it will require broad participation from a range of government agencies and ministries. This, in turn, will enable the project to contribute to strengthening the working relationships among government agencies, and co-management arrangements between local governments and communities.

The project will also draw on the considerable expertise and experience that exists in the many and varied regional bodies and non-government
organizations that operate in the area. For more information visit www.boblme.org

The CSR Asia Center at AIT is a joint venture partnership between the Asian Institute for Technology (AIT) and CSR Asia and is located at the AIT campus in Pathumthani, Thailand. Its mission is to:

• Advance the development and implementation of effective and innovative sustainability solutions and CSR strategies for and by business
• Facilitate the development of the supportive framework conditions for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development

The Alliance is working with the Center to identify opportunities for the private sector to engage with the local partners and the communities in sustainable and equitable business ventures.

More about CSR Asia Center at AIT can be found at http://www.csrcenter.ait.asia/

FAO leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. FAO helps developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all.

FAO is engaging with the Alliance in a number of ways. Firstly, it is asked to provide the Alliance with a number of indicators with which it can measure how the Alliance’s work is providing benefits to FAO. Secondly, it engages with the Alliance in its initiatives relevant to the Alliance’s partners work and geographic focus, e.g. linking up with Alliance partners in Vietnam and Cambodia for the implementation of the FAO supported “Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme” and Wetlands Alliance partners contributed to the “ Lao PDR review of legislation on fishery and aquaculture”. Thirdly, the Wetlands Alliance is actively promoting participation by local partners in relevant regional events organised by FAO.

More about FAO-RAP (the section with which the Alliance is mostly engaged with) can be found at http://www.fao.org/world/regional/rap/

IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.

The Alliance is working with IUCN Asia Regional Office, Bangkok, in initiative such as the Mekong Water Dialogue Programme (MWD), and looks for opportunities to cooperate in the Water and Wetlands Programme.

More about IUCN can be found at http://www.iucn.org/asia

IWMI is one of 15 international research centers collectively known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). IWMI's Mission is to improve the management of land and water resources for food, livelihoods and the environment. Specifically, IWMI's aim in Southeast Asia is to improve the productivity of water and land resources in the region's river basins for sustainable livelihoods, food and environmental security.

The Alliance is seeking to cooperate with IWMI-SEA in a number of areas related to wetlands and water management. There is scope in linking IWMI research to local partners and communities in the Alliance.

More about IWMI-SEA can be found at http://sea.iwmi.org/

The MFF is a unique partnership-led initiative to promote investment in coastal ecosystems. The initiative is founded on a vision for a more healthy, prosperous and secure future for all Indian Ocean coastal communities, where all ecosystems are protected and managed sustainably. It has two main objectives: to strengthen the environmental sustainability of coastal development; and to promote the investment of funds and efforts in coastal ecosystem management.

The Alliance is working with the MFF to help the local partners to work within the framework of the MFF (Thailand and Vietnam, and possibly Cambodia soon), and to partake in regional and international experience sharing events.

More about the MFF can be found at http://www.mangrovesforthefuture.org/

MRC was formed on 5 April 1995 by an agreement between the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, called “The Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin” and agreed on joint management of their shared water resources and development of the economic potential of the river. The MRC builds on a foundation of over 50 years of cooperation in knowledge and experience sharing starting from 1957 with the Mekong Committee , a standing committee under the UN.

The MRC is an international, country-driven river basin organisation that provides the institutional framework to promote regional cooperation in order to implement the 1995 Agreement. The MRC serves its member states by supporting decisions and promoting action on sustainable development and poverty alleviation as a contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The Alliance cooperates with the MRC primarily through the Climate Change and Adaptation Initiative and with the Environment Programme. Local partners of the Alliance are encouraged in participating in the Basin Development Plan, and the Alliance hopes to be able to provide the MRC with a local level testing ground for issues relevant to river basin management.

More about MRC can be found at http://www.mrcmekong.org/

RECOFTC was established in 1987 in response to the need for a regional institution focused on community forestry training, research, and information exchange. RECOFTC's original objective was to organize and provide training support for community forestry throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Since 1997 RECOFTC is promoting active participation of local communities in developing and managing forest resources.

The Alliance sees opportunities to cooperate with RECOFTC on a number of issues, both related to forestry and to monitoring and evaluation systems.

More about RECOFTC can be found at http://www.recoftc.org/

NACA is an intergovernmental organisation that promotes rural development through sustainable aquaculture. NACA seeks to improve rural income, increase food production and foreign exchange earnings and to diversify farm production. The ultimate beneficiaries of NACA activities are farmers and rural communities.

The Wetlands Alliance and NACA are seeking ways to link their initiatives on the ground to promote the sharing of experiences and cross-site learning. NACA is also requested to identify indicators on how the work of the Alliance is benefitting their work. Opportunities were identified in NACA’s projects on “Development of Better Management Practices for Catfish Aquaculture in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam”, “Culture-based fisheries development in Lao PDR”, and “Better management practices” for shrimp culture.

More about NACA can be found at http://www.enaca.org/

SENSA, The Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia, is Sida’s knowledge-based environmental secretariat based in Bangkok. Its main tasks are to promote regional cooperation for an environmentally sustainable development in Southeast Asia.

SENSA facilitates cooperation between environmental actors in the different countries of the region by identifying activities with common goals. It works to ensure a better use of existing regional knowledge bases and resources providing reliable information and advice. It also provides an open resource base for strategic analysis and assessment, consisting of the collective knowledge from its networks.

The Alliance is working with SENSA in participating in regional events, in providing inputs into the Climate Change and Adaptation Platform and seeks to cooperate in regional initiatives.

More about SENSA can be found at http://www.sida.se/sensa

SEI is an independent international research institute, which has been engaged in environment and development issues at local, national, regional and global policy levels for more than 20 years. SEI’s goal is to bring about change for sustainable development by bridging science and policy. It does so by providing integrated analysis that supports decision makers.

SEI's Asia Centre in Bangkok plays a key role in sustainable development issues such as energy, water resources, atmospheric pollution, sustainable livelihoods and climate change. The Alliance is an active participant in SEI/UNEP/Sensa’s Climate Change and Adaptation Platform and links to the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (Sumernet).

More about SEI can be found at http://sei-international.org/bangkok

SEAFDEC is an autonomous inter-governmental body established as a regional treaty organization on 28th December 1967. SEAFDEC is mandated to develop fisheries potential of the Southeast Asian region by rational utilization of the resources to provide food security to the people through transfer of new technologies, and to conduct research and information dissemination activities.

The Alliance is engaged with SEAFDEC in areas of training and transboundary cooperation. Initial activities included scoping of transboundary cooperation between Kampot (Cambodia) and Phu Quoc Island (Vietnam). Future work may include cooperation in the implementation of the UNDP/GEF South China Sea Strategic Action Implementation Project.

More about SEAFDEC can be found at http://www.seafdec.org/

The objective of the Yunus Center at AIT is to deliver poverty reduction outcomes through a social business agenda in education, research and the practical implementation of poverty reduction programs. The Alliance is cooperating with the Yunus Center at AIT in the Poverty Reduction and Agriculture Management (PRAM) initiative, and is planning to engage the Center in micro-finance and social business opportunities in the future.

More about Yunus Center at AIT can be found at www.yunuscenteratait.org