Governments of various countries and regions should make joint efforts to improve the marine environment to realize sustainable development, experts said at the 2019 Xiamen International Ocean Forum on Nov 1.

Zhang Haiwen, director-general of the China Institute for Marine Affairs of the Ministry of Natural Resources, told the forum that oceans are facing challenges from humans, micro-plastic waste and excessive exploitation. This includes coastal zones which have destroyed the ecosystem and overfishing, which has exhausted resources.

She said oceans have been considered a huge challenge to humanity as they can bring disasters, and people still don't know much about the ocean.

Zhang said that oceans need to be jointly governed in order to achieve sustainable development.

She noted that China has participated in global ocean governance and contributed its wisdom and proposals. For the current global ocean governance system, China advocates reforms, instead of replacing it with a brand new one.

The Chinese government recently allocated 5.69 billion yuan ($808.55 million) to support the restoration of ecologically damaged coastal wetlands, coastlines and islands in 18 coastal cities. A total of 3,600 hectares of wetlands and 150 kilometers of coastlines have been restored.

Xiamen has established an evaluation mechanism for marine ecological conservation. It has acted on a series of measures, including the protection of fishery resources and conservation of island ecosystems, according to Zhang.

Aimee Gonzales, executive director of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), said that in terms of the "blue economy" solutions and partnerships in East Asia, international common laws have been introduced and "we have the building blocks for the blue economy".

"The idea of the blue economy is to ensure that whatever production we do, taking resources from the ocean is done in a sustainable way," Gonzales said.

The PEMSEA is a regional mechanism to collaborate on coastal and ocean governance. That means, "to look at the laws and implement how we can deliver integrated coastal management," she explained.

Noraini Binti Roslan, president of PEMSEA Network of Local Governments for Sustainable Coastal Development and mayor of Subang Jaya in Malaysia, said that in the fields of ocean development, management and planning, Malaysia has been in communication with the Xiamen city government, and scientists all over China.

"Xiamen in particular and the Chinese government in general, together with Malaysia should go deeper in marine debris and pollution control and in aquaculture control of fisheries so that we can enjoy cleaner ocean areas," Roslan said.