Hosts

Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Nature Resources (MNR), China

Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), Thailand

Organizers

First Institute of Oceanography, MNR, China

Phuket Marine Biological Center, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, MNRE, Thailand

China-Thailand Joint Laboratory for Climate and Marine Ecosystem

Background

The Southeast Asian countries and China are located in the convergent zone of the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Andaman Sea, and South China Sea. These countries' economies are highly ocean-related, such as fisheries and tourism, and even agriculture which highly depends on the precipitation brought by the Asian monsoon. However, since extreme weather or climate events often cause considerable losses to these countries which pursue the rapid development of economy, this area is facing common and serious problems under the condition of global climate change, such as marine environmental change, marine ecosystem destruction, seawater pollution, coral bleaching, mangrove degradation, and coastal erosion. To effectively solve the above problems and mitigate the resulting damages, the Southeast Asian countries and China have a common interest in collaborating on ocean observation, monitoring and forecasting systems, marine environmental protection and management, sustainable exploitation of marine resources, blue economy development, and early warning of marine disasters.

To strengthen the cooperation between China and the Southeast Asian countries on marine science and technology, eight forums have been held during the past nine years. The 1st Forum was held in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2013; the 2nd in Phuket, Thailand, in November 2014; the 3rd in Qingdao, China, in November 2015; the 4th in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in December 2016; the 5th in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December 2017; and both the 6th and 7th in Beihai, China, in November 2018 and October 2021; the 8th in Jakarta, Indonesia, in November, 2024, respectively.

Goals

The forum aims to:

The forum aims to strengthen cooperation in marine ecosystem protection and restoration, marine disaster prevention and mitigation, marine science and technology research and development, and marine management and policy among the Southeast Asian countries and China.

Forum Chairs

Prof. Zexun Wei, Director General of FIO, MNR, China

Dr. Pinsak Suraswadi, Director General of DMCR, MNRE, Thailand

Sessions

The forum includes the following four sessions:

Session 1: Ocean and Climate Observation, Forecasting, Protection and Applications

The marine environments have undergone significant changes in the recent century due to human activities that interact with natural climate variability. Societal demands on operational ocean forecast products and future climate projections supported by observational data are increasing to adapt and mitigate ocean disasters as well as climate change. This session aims to enhance our understanding of the ocean and climate system's past, present, and future, especially in the convergent zone of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Andaman Sea, and South China Sea. This session will discuss various topics related to observations and numerical simulation, and encourages contributions to state-of-the-art prediction and forecasting systems that can provide accurate and timely services to the community and the applications of emerging technologies, such as the application of Artificial Intelligence in ocean forecast.

Session 2: Marine Ecosystem Protection, Biodiversity Exploration and Marine Biotechnology Development

A healthy and resilient ocean is fundamental to sustainable development. However, a multitude of pressures has threatened the delicate balance of ecosystem functioning and services in the seas. Conservation of marine biodiversity and ecosystem functions is critical in the maintenance and persistence of marine life and ecosystem. This session will focus on biodiversity and the function of marine ecosystems to sustain marine and coastal development. Topics will include health assessment and strategies to protect marine ecosystems, degradation and restoration of typical habitats, marine endangered species, deep-sea and extreme marine ecosystems, and relevant capacity building practices, effects of environmental pressures (e.g. ocean acidification, ocean warming, and marine pollution) on marine life and ecosystem and coral reef bleaching.

Session 3: Marine Geosystem Science and Disaster and Mitigation

Marine geological processes are concerned with all geological and dynamic aspects of estuaries, shelves, slopes and ocean basins, and play an important role in understanding earth evolution, climate change and disaster prevention. This session will focus on sediment source to sink process, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate evolution, disaster prevention and reduction including capacity development practices. Topics will include natural factors and human activities that potentially lead to a series of seafloor disasters and marine geological processes, controlling factors and regulatory mechanisms, and their future evolutionary trend. Relevant research results of this session will help enhance our understanding of marine geosystem science, improve our ability to prevent disasters and sustainably utilize resources.

Session 4: Blue Economy and Sustainable Ocean

The blue and sustainable ocean economy is a global paradigm on ocean governance for economic development with the principles of effective protection, sustainable production, and equitable prosperity, where benefits from the ocean and coastal areas are distributed equitably. This paradigm is a solution to achieving ecosystem protection, ocean economic development and the welfare of coastal-dependent communities and small scale fishers. The use of marine resources should not sacrifice the necessary quality and quantity needed for future generations, and any use of marine resources whose impact is unknown must be carried out with caution, along with the support of reliable scientific evidence. This session will focus on the policies of ocean economy, sustainable ocean governance, and the interface of science-policy-society fostering the international collaboration among China and Southeast Asian countries.

Venue and Time

The Forum will be held in Bazaar Hotel Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand during 24-25 September 2026.

Information

(1) All participants should register through the website https://cseaforum.fio.com.cn

(2) The deadline for abstract submission (max. 250 words) is August 01, 2026

(3) The deadline for online registration is August 10, 2026