Regional Activity Centres (RACs)

The Fourth Intergovernmental Meeting (Beijing, China, April 1999) decided to establish four RACs for the implementation of the Action Plan. The RACs play a central role in coordinating regional activities in specific fields of priority through a network of national institutions designated by the NOWPAP member states.

• Special Monitoring and Coastal Environmental Assessment Regional Activity Centre (CEARAC)
  CEARAC is hosted by the Northwest Pacific Region Environmental Cooperation Center (NPEC) in Toyama, Japan. Its main activities are to monitor and assess harmful algal blooms, to develop new monitoring tools using remote sensing and to assess land-based sources of marine litter.
  

• Data and Information Network Regional Activity Centre (DINRAC)
  DINRAC is based in the Policy Research Centre for Environment & Economy of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The objectives of DINRAC are to develop a region-wide data and information exchange network, to promote regional cooperation and exchange of information on the marine and coastal environment in the NOWPAP region and eventually to serve as a NOWPAP Clearinghouse.
  

• Marine Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Regional Activity Centre (MERRAC)
  Established in the Maritime and Ocean Engineering Research Institute under Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (MOERI/KORDI) in Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, MERRAC is a joint effort of UNEP and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to develop effective regional cooperative measures in response to marine pollution incidents including oil and hazardous and noxious substance (HNS) spills. MERRAC is also working on marine-based sources of marine litter.
  

• Pollution Monitoring Regional Activity Centre (POMRAC)
  Located at the Pacific Geographical Institute (PGI) of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Vladivostok, Russian Federation, POMRAC is responsible for cooperative measures related to atmospheric deposition of contaminants and river and direct inputs of contaminants into the marine and coastal environment. In 2007, POMRAC started a new project on integrated coastal zone and river basin management (ICARM) and compiled the state of marine environment report.