In April 2009, a five-year Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) regional Project, involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, commenced with the objective of improving the lives of the coastal populations through improved regional management of the Bay of Bengal environment and its fisheries. The BOBLME Project is funded principally by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Norway, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the USA. FAO is the executing agency.
Major outputs of the BOBLME project will be the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a Strategic Action Programme (SAP).
The Transboundary Analysis (TDA) is the primary input into the SAP development. It provides the scientific basis for the collaborative development of a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) that forms the basis for the implementation of nationally and regionally coordinated activities to address the issues and their causes to protect the health of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine ecosystem and manage its living resources on a sustainable basis to improve the food and livelihood security of the region’s coastal population.
The draft TDA has been developed through various BOBLME studies and assessments and issues perceived by the BOBLME countries. This draft document outlines the major water-related coastal and marine environmental issues. It identifies the transboundary elements of the issues, and examines their main proximate and root causes, major information gaps, and lays the foundation for potential areas for action, while also identifying major potential constraints and challenges that will need to be overcome.
Before finalizing the draft TDA for adoption the draft TDA should be validated by the all participating countries through wider stakeholder consultation. Currently the national TDA consultations are underway in the participating countries.
The Draft BOBLME TDA is a scientific, technical, analytical document to identify priority environmental and fisheries issues that are transboundary in nature for the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem and provides the factual basis for the formulation of a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) to address the priority issues. .
TDA is in two volumes. Volume 1 focuses on the transboundary issues and presents a causal chain analysis that identifies the proximate and root causes of the issues that provide the basis for the development of a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) to identify the inventions required to address the transboundary issues. Volume 2 provides the background to Volume 1 and covers the scope and characteristics of the BOBME, the legal, administrative, political context and constraints, assessment of marine living resources and the environment; and background of the BOBLME transboundary issues.
Both volumes are based on a preliminary framework TDA that consolidated the results and recommendations of extensive regional and national consultations held with stakeholders and of the reports and comments received. Inputs included theme reports and national reports and outputs from Regional Workshops..
The draft TDA is now available for national consultations in the eight collaborating countries before entering the next phase-adoption.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development (MFARD) as the National focal point of the BOBLME regional Project has undertaken an extensive consultation process to provide an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders to give their views/suggestions/comments on the draft TDA for its validation. The process encompasses:
The interested persons/organizations are invited to participate in the above consultation by submission of the written responses in response to the consultation paper. The consultation paper for written submissions is available in this web page.
>> Draft TDA volume 1 English | Sinhala
>> Draft TDA volume 2
>> "TDA executive summary | English | Sinhala | Tamil
>> Consultation paper for written submissions
How to respond to the consultation paper
Mail your response to: National Coordinator National Coordination (Sri Lanka) BOBLME Project National Aquaculture Development and Research Agency (NARA) Crow Island, Mattakkuliya Colombo 15 Phone: 0112521914 Fax: 0112521914 Responses may also be sent by e-mail to boblme_sl@gmail.com Deadline for written responses: by 04 July 2011
