ministerial coordination, multi-stakeholder consultations/ management and multi-sectoral dialogue.
The marine environment, too, is being degraded be­cause of economic development (e.g., oil development and logging, dams), population growth and human activity, par­ticularly in coastal areas. Marine ecosystems in the Vietnam Sea play an important role in the economic development of East and Southeast Asia, but are subject to pollution from several nations, resulting in habitat loss and a declining re­source base (Thanh, 2005). Resolving such problems, which are increasing despite conservation efforts, requires not only national action, but also regional cooperation and modified institutional arrangements that include the international aid regime. For instance, the sustainable harvesting of fish stocks might be most effective if governments of the region cooperated to:
•   Invest in integrated ecological socioeconomic assess­ment of fisheries to set sustainable goals and identify priority actions
•   Improve tenure regimes to clarify roles and responsibili­ties for access and management of fisheries resources, as well as capacities for enforcement
•   Pursue adaptive management based on sustainability goals

As current methods to prevent the collapse of fish stocks have not proved effective, action is needed to conserve stocks, such as big eye and yellowfin tuna in the Pacific and to increase marine food security. In pursuit of those goals, three major initiatives are needed in the medium and long term:
•   Careful review and comparison of fisheries agreements, particularly the means employed to attract fleets and to raise revenues for small island states.
•   Establish networks of "fish parks" so that protected ar­eas of the ocean can be increased from the current level of only 0.5% to 20-30%, as proposed by the interna­tional academy of sciences (Balmford et al., 2004) and
•   Complement fish reserves or parks with arrangements to disseminate monitoring data for internet use to en­gage citizens in policing activities (Clover, 2004).

5.2.2     Climate change
A daunting challenge in the ESAP agricultural sector is cli­mate change and its predicted effects on productivity and livelihoods. Water is already one of the greatest constraints to agricultural productivity in much of the ESAP region and is likely to become more so with global warming-induced reductions in precipitation and accelerating glacier reces­sion in the Himalayas (Duan et al., 2006; Singh et al., 2006; Kulkarni et al., 2007). The consequences of such changes are water scarcity as well as catastrophic flooding in moun­tain countries like Nepal, which are at risk of glacial lake outburst floods (Rai and Gurung, 2005). Unseasonal rains, debilitating droughts, excessive floods, devastating cyclones and storms and other extreme weather conditions seriously threaten agricultural, livestock and aquaculture production systems. Drought has consequences for 500 million farm­ers largely living on rainfed agriculture in India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Philippines, Australia and the

Pacific Islands (UNESCAP, 1995). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) projects a decline in grain harvest for tropical regions of 11-46% by 2050, largely in response to global warming, with effects likely to be felt by large and small farmers throughout the ESAP region.
     Reducing CO2 emissions requires multiple approaches, including reductions in energy consumption, more efficient use of available energy, application of renewable energy sources and carbon sequestration (Han et al., 2007). At the field and farm level, new agricultural approaches and mod­els are essential for higher productivity, energy efficiency and sustainability in view of climate change threats (Seguin et al., 2007). For instance, a field or farm-level decision to eliminate tillage operations can reduce production costs by 50%, save labor and decrease erosion, agrochemical con­tamination and fuel consumption (Huang et al., 2002). Moisture conservation technologies along with crop and cropping system diversification are important to lower risk in a variable climate scenario, improve production and sus­tain livelihoods, particularly in marginal areas (Lantican et al., 2003).
     At the regional level, governments in ESAP also need to adopt strategies to prepare farmers, particularly those in the most vulnerable (drought and flood-prone) sectors, for the long-term impacts of climate change and variability. Increased investment in rainfed agriculture throughout the region is one necessary intervention, as is raising awareness and support for farmers and affected populations to for­mulate mitigation and adaptation measures. Modern tech­nologies in conjunction with traditional knowledge of water management and crop selection can support community-based adaptation efforts and account for the specific needs and conditions of particular populations. This is especially important in the low-lying deltaic areas of Bangladesh and the small-island developing states of the Pacific. With the exception of a few cases in Southeast Asia, irrigation in­tervention excluded women from access to water resources (Lambrou and Piana 2006a), thus generating especially ad­verse impacts of drought and climate variability for women. Yet, gender specific impacts are seldom noted in discussions related to the effects of climate change suggesting that ef­fective policy implementation to respond to climate change requires accounting for its differential effects on women and men (Lambrou and Piana, 2006ab).
     As forest degradation is endemic throughout the re­gion, it is useful to examine recent positive responses to curb  deforestation and support reforestation.  In China, for instance, the introduction of large scale tree-plantation schemes between 2000 and 2005 may suggest strategies for other areas of the ESAP region (UN, 2007). Forests currently store a substantial stock of carbon, amounting to 826 bil­lion tonnes in trees and soil (Brown, 1998), an amount that exceeds the stock of carbon currently in the atmosphere. Se­questering carbon in forests through activities that expand forest cover through plantations and agroforestry plantings and minimize deforestation, forest fires and soil disturbance can help mitigate the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Adams et al., 1993; IPCC, 1996; Adams et al., 1999; IPCC, 2000; Roper, 2001). Mitigation strate­gies to address fossil fuel combustion and land use changes,