YSLME Project
To address these key transboundary threats, there a four key areas of work under the YSLME Phase II Project.
Operations Intern
Ms. Yanan Cao, an operation intern who joined the YSLME Phase II Project in January, 2020. She supports the closure phase of YSLME Phase II Project in facilitating online meetings, communications with partners, translations and data migration.
Ms. Yanan Cao has an academic background of both international economy and international law. Before joining YSLME, she studied in the Wuhan University Institute of International Law and Yonsei University. She had working experience in a law firm and security company.
Operations Intern
Ms. Jiajie Fang, an Operation Intern, joined YSLME at the beginning of 2020. She supports daily operations, communication with Chinese partners and assignments related to project closure, such as asset disposal and data migration.
Ms. Jiajie Fang worked in commercial banking and strategy consulting before starting a new career in non-government organizations. Emerged in the YSLME atmosphere, she is now an active advocator for biodiversity and ocean protection. Ms. Jiajie Fang holds a bachelor's degree from Renmin University of China (2010) and a master's degree from Yonsei Universiy (2019).
Senior Assistant
Mr. Jeenho MOK, Project Management Support – Senior Assistant supports the Project Implementation and the Project Closure in terms of financial management, operations/procurement, and general administration.
Mr. MOK initially joined the Project as an Operations Intern in April 2019. During his nine months internship, he supported the operations/procurement of the Project implementation in terms of the preparation of the meetings, workshops, study visits, and daily office administration.
Before he joined the YSLME Phase II Project, he had experienced in the preparation of the Greeting for the Korean President facilitated by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Denmark. He got his Master’s Degree in Business and Development Studies from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark
Operations Associate
Ms. Nera Mariz Puyo, short-term Operations Associate, supports the project management office in terms of financial management, procurement, human resources and general administration.
Ms. Puyo initially joined the YSLME Phase II Project in November 2017 as a Communications Intern. In this role she managed the front and back-end of the project website, wrote and produced multimedia content, helped organize meetings and wrote proceedings, and provided other communications support including production of newsletters and other publications.
Before joining the PMO, Ms. Puyo worked in the News Media industry as a content and multimedia editor at Sun.Star Publishing Inc., a nation-wide news publishing company based in the Philippines. She attended press conferences, wrote and edited news articles, and maintained websites, microblogs and social media networks. She also worked as a researcher and production assistant (intern) at ABS-CBN broadcasting corporation.
Communications Intern
Ms. Weijia Chen, Communication Intern, supports communications tasks of the partnership as needed. Her duties contain researching and writing the online content of the Yellow Sea Commission, maintaining the website, producing and editing audio-visual content for the web, designing search criteria, uploading content of the clearing house of laws and legislation of China, and producing high-quality presentations and infographics.
Chen worked as a librarian and university ambassador doing communication and promotion work in her university. She is working on her undergraduate degree on International Studies and Global Korean Studies in Ewha Womans University, ROK.
Operations Intern
Ms. Yifei Li, operations intern who joined the YSLME Phase II Project Management Office (PMO) in Incheon in October 2018. During her six months internship, she is in charge of routine administrative support on the proper day-to-day functioning of the PMO in facilitating the conduct of workshops, meetings, trainings and study visits, and procurement of goods and services for project implementation.
Before she joined the YSLME Phase II Office, Ms. Li worked as the intern office assistant in the WMO/WCRP/ ICGPO (International CLIVAR Project Office) which is located in Qingdao, Shandong, PR China from July to August in 2017 and got her bachelor degree in Spanish in July of 2018.
Environmental Law Intern
Ms. Xiaoxuan Chen, Environmental Law intern, was responsible for collecting laws and regulations related with marine ecology and environment at global and regional levels and from PR China and RO Korea as a part of the initiative to establish and maintain a Legal Clearing House (database) on website of YSLME Partnership. The database is established to support future research and reference of the YSLME Phase II Project implementation.
Ms. Chen worked as a research assistant in the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, PR China and was a legal intern of non-government organizations in Green Stone and Pacific Environment. Immediately after her internship, she obtained her master’s degree on Environmental and Resources Protection Law from the Law & Politics School of the Ocean University of China.
Environment Officer
As the Environment Officer, Mr. Zhengguang Zhu coordinates Regional Working Groups (RWGs) and oversees activities related to Fish Stocks, Mariculture and Pollution. Mr. Zhu is based in the Project’s management office in the National Marine Environment Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in Liaoning Province, PR China.
Previously, Mr. Zhu was a Senior Environment Officer in the State Oceanic Administration in PR China. His responsibilities covered capacity building of Marine Protected Networks and policy research related to Marine Protected Areas. As one of its key members, Mr. Zhu took part in Bilateral Fishery Agreement negotiations with Vietnam, RO Korea, Japan, Republic of Mongolia, and Russia from 2009 to 2012. He also worked for the environment focal point of the Bureau of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture in 2008-2014, and coordinated the program of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora for protecting endangered species in PR China from 2012-2014.
Environmental Economist Mr. Sangjin Lee is an environmental professional with more than 20 years experience working in international organizations such as the Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and academic/research institutes including the University of California, University of Wisconsin, Hazardous Substance Research Center of Louisiana State University and Massachusetts Water Resource Authorities in the USA. As the Environmental Economist, Mr. Lee oversees the social science components of the YSLME Phase II Project by implementing actions related to the establishment of the YSLME Commission. He also coordinates activities and outputs of economic and technical studies, including natural sciences related to Habitat Conservation, and Monitoring and Assessment in the Yellow Sea, by liaising with consultants and relevant international agencies. Mr. Lee holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from Pukyong National University of RO Korea, a Masters of Science in Environmental Engineering from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Louisiana State University, USA.
Sangjin Lee
Chief Technical Advisor and Project Manager
Mr. Yinfeng Guo assumed the position of the Chief Technical Adviser and Manager of the YSLME Project on 1 Novemeber 2016. He is responsible for the projects overall coordination, management, monitoring and supervision.
Before joining YSLME, Mr. Guo worked as a Programme Specialist and Head of Planning and Partnership with PEMSEA, a regional organization headquartered in Manila, Philippines, from 2011 to 2016. His unparalled dedication and commitment in delivering PEMSEA services in support of scaling up the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia implementation by national and local governments and other regional stakeholders have contrinuted significantly to PEMSEA’s evolution and progress. Among others, he was a major influence in the planning and formulation of the SDS-SEA 2015, the Da Nang Compact and the 2003-2015 Regional Review of the SDS-SEA Implementation, while ccoordinating PEMSEA activities with the State Oceanic Administration and other collaborating organizations in PR China and across the region.
Mr. Guo’s services as Program Manager from 2006 to 2010 with UNDP China have led to a growing biodiversity and international waters portfolio with a total of USD 55 million in grants from the GEF, European Commission and other funding sources. Before joining UNDP, he was a Senior Biodiversity Specialist in Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of the then Ministry of Environmental Protection, PR China. Mr. Guo has 13 years of experiences as a Project Officer with the Scientific Authority of PR China to the Convention on Endangered Species (CITES), Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Mr. Guo has a Masters degree in Law from Beijing Univeristy Law School and a Bachelors degree in English Literature from Beijing Second Institute of Foreign Languages.