(openPR) - Hanoi, Vietnam – PEMSEA has announced the designation of Mr. Raphael P.M. Lotilla as the new Executive Director of the PEMSEA Resource Facility (PRF).

The announcement was made on 9 April by Dr. Chua Thia-Eng, Chair of the East Asian Seas Partnership Council, during a Reception hosted by PEMSEA at the 4th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 7-11 April.

Mr. Lotilla served in the Philippine government as the Secretary of the Department of Energy from 2005 to 2007, where he steered the Department towards the achievement of the government's energy independence and power sector reform agenda. As Undersecretary for the National Economic Development Authority of the Philippines (1996-2004), he represented NEDA in the Cabinet Committee on the Law of the Sea, and its successor the Cabinet Committee on Maritime and Ocean Affairs, as well as coordinated the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development. He also led a multistakeholder process in the formulation of Philippine Agenda 21, and participated in numerous regional activities that sought to promote greater regional cooperation among coastal states. Mr. Lotilla began his career in the academe at the University of the Philippines, and was appointed Professor of Law in 1995. As Professor of Law, he has published various articles and lectured on the Law of the Sea and ocean policy.

Prof. Lotilla is expected to assume the PRF Executive Director’s Office in May 2008.

PEMSEA
DENR Compound, Visayas Ave., Quezon City, 1101 Philippines
Maggie Uy
+6329292992
mmuy@pemsea.org

For more than a decade, the Regional Programme on Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) has been active in the pursuit of sustainable development. Since its inception in 1994 (Regional Programme on Marine Pollution Prevention and Management for the East Asian Seas Region) its efforts were geared towards fulfilling its mission of building interagency, intersectoral, and intergovernmental partnerships for achieving the sustainable development of the Seas of East Asia.

Together with its partners, PEMSEA fulfilled its objectives and achieved a number of milestones in the field of integrated coastal management which include the EAS Congress 2003 and the Ministerial Forum, that lead to the signing of the Putrajaya Declaration, also known as the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA).

Today, PEMSEA focuses on the development objective of facilitating the implementation of the SDS-SEA through the mobilization of necessary partnerships arrangements, operating mechanisms, intellectual capital, support services and resources for the achievement of the shared vision of sustainable use of coastal and marine resources of the region and the development targets of the WSSD Plan of Implementation and the UN Millennium Development Goals.