The purpose of this panel is to analyze the characterization of sub-regional governance over East Asian maritime environmental management, the role of inter-city network, and its impact on international relations. Specifically, we will approach this project from the perspective of a comparative case study analysis to understand the interrelationships among East Asian sea area management frameworks (COBSEA, NOWPAP, PEMSEA, ACB, CTI-CEF, SSME, etc.), which are polycentric and loose, as well as a single case study analysis to examine the PEMSEA (Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia), which have the unique characteristics as complementary composite regimes by states and cities.
In particular, we will focus on what role PEMSEA have played, or not played, in the formation of a new governance structure (institution building) in East Asia. This is because PEMSEA, which started in 1993 as nothing more than a UNDP regional project, developed into a regional international organization with its own legal personality in 2009, expanding to 12 East Asian countries, including North Korea (Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Brunei, Timor-Leste), and in 2006 launching the PEMSEA Network of Local Governments (PNLG) to promote ICM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management), expanding its membership to 57 cities, making it the most extensive cooperation mechanism in East Asia.
In this way, we would like to propose a new analytical perspective on the formation of autogenous, horizontally coordinated transboundary ecosystem-based governance in East Asia, leveraging “south-south city cooperation” for the conservation of coastal ecosystems, and raise the possibility of bioregionalism in East Asian regional cooperation. This research will not only expand the horizon of sub-regional governance research in East Asia, where there is less research accumulation than in Europe, but also open up new research fields in environmental governance research, ocean governance research, and inter-city network research.