Sustaining the World's Large Marine Ecosystems

A second phase, from the mid 1990s to the present, was a period of steady
growth in the application of the LME approach to the assessment and
management of ocean goods and services. Beginning in 1995 NOAA, in
collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and in partnership with
five United Nations agencies (UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, IOC-UNESCO, FAO), the
IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund, has been providing scientific and technical
assistance on the LME approach to 110 developing countries engaged in the
planning and operationalization of the 16 GEF supported LME projects in Africa,
Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe (Figure 3).
During the present third phase, LME Program international activities are focused
on the extension of new GEF-supported LME projects in Asia and Latin America.
In a parallel effort, an estimated 2,500 LME project practitioners are developing a
global community of best practices for operationalizing the 5-module LME
assessment and management approach. It is expected that the LME community
of practice (LME-CoP) will establish an electronic network for the selection and
dissemination of “best-practices” methodologies. The methodologies are to be
used in the training and education of up to 10,000 LME project practitioners by
2015 and will be reproduced and distributed in electronic and print reports,
volumes, and visualizations.
Figure 3. Global Distribution of Large Marine Ecosystem Projects Funded by the GEF. The yellow
dots on the map represent the location of the 16 operational GEF-LME projects. These are: the
Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Humboldt Current, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Canary
Current, Guinea Current, Benguela Current, Agulhas and Somali Current, Red Sea, Bay of Bengal,
Gulf of Thailand, Yellow Sea, South China Sea, and Sulu Celebes LMEs. Also represented with a
yellow dot is a 17 th project in the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Warm-Water Pool LME Equivalent.
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