United Nations
UNEP/GEF South China Sea
Global Environment
Environment Programme
Project
Facility
Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends
in the
South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNEP/GEF SOUTH CHINA SEA PROJECT
WEBSITE
UNEP/GEF/SCS/WEB.1
Table of Contents
A LARGE AND EXPANDING PARTNER NETWORK .......................................................................... 1
A WIDE RANGE OF PROJECT OUTPUTS........................................................................................... 1
THE SHARING OF EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED......................................................... 1
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT WEBSITE................................................................................... 1
THE USE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ......................................................................................... 2
KEY FEATURES .................................................................................................................................... 2
PRELIMINARY STRATEGY FOR INITIATING PARTNER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WEBSITE .... 4
INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL FOR THE WEBSITE................................................................................ 4
UNEP/GEF/SCS/WEB.1
DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNEP/GEF SOUTH CHINA SEA PROJECT WEBSITE
The project entitled "Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of
Thailand" is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) in partnership with seven riparian states bordering the South China
Sea. Planning commenced in 1996, the project became fully operational in February 2002, and it is
now focused on the implementation of a wide range of demonstration interventions, pilot activities,
finalisation of National Action Plans, and elaboration of the Strategic Action Programme.
A Large and Expanding Partner Network
The preparatory phase of the project has enabled the development of a large and expanding partner
network. There are currently in excess of one hundred institutions directly involved in the project, and
more than four hundred institutions indirectly involved through individual participation on National
Committees and Sub-committees and Regional Working Groups. It is anticipated that this network will
continue to grow as the demonstration sites and pilot activities become fully operational.
A Wide Range of Project Outputs
The project has developed a wide range of outputs, including:
· Knowledge documents,
· An online Geographical Information System and Meta-database,
· English and national-language reviews of the science and management of marine habitats
and fisheries,
· A nutrient carrying capacity model for the South China Sea,
· National Action Plans for key marine habitats, and
· 59 meeting reports and numerous discussion documents for these meetings.
The implementation of demonstration interventions and pilot activities will see the number of project
outputs grow considerably over the next 2 years.
The Sharing of Experiences and Lessons Learned
There have been a number of key lessons learned in the project, especially in relation to the
procedures used for the selection of demonstration sites and the management framework adopted for
project implementation. The six meetings of each of the Regional Working Groups (RWGs), the 3
meetings of each of the Regional Task Forces (RTFs), and the two Regional Scientific Conferences
have provided an effective forum for regional collaboration and sharing of national-level experiences.
This regional collaboration will hopefully continue beyond the completion of the project. Until then,
each RWG and RTF will convene a series of meetings, and it is anticipated that the third Regional
Scientific Conference will be held in 2007. Similarly, the project will continue to promote and support
the sharing of lessons learned associated with the demonstration sites and pilot activities during the
operational phase of the project.
Development of the Project Website
In 2005, the Project Co-ordinating Unit (PCU) decided that the South China Sea Project website could
be used more effectively to:
· Consolidate and strengthen the partner network,
· Disseminate project outputs, and
· Share experiences and lessons learned.
A decision was made by the PCU to develop the project website to ensure that it best met the needs
of the project while ensuring that the site could continue to effectively serve the project for the
distribution of documents and the posting of project news and information.
1
UNEP/GEF/SCS/WEB.1
The Use of Open Source Software
The Joomla Open Source Content Management System was selected by the PCU as the platform for
the development of the site, primarily because it is free, easy to install, simple to manage, and
reliable. The Joomla platform enables those involved in the South China Sea Project to easily and
quickly publish content online themselves, instead of having to rely on a dedicated website manager,
or paying large sums of money for proprietary software.
The platform not only enables the establishment of a consistent look and feel throughout the site, but
gives project participants the opportunity to publish and update their own content on the site using
simple web-browser based tools. It also contains a facility that can be used for controlling publishing
processes and assigning specific authoring, editing and/or publishing rights to various individuals via a
secure login procedure.
A wide range of content types, including simple text, documents, images, video and audio can be
published to the website using the system. It also has tools for the establishment of an online
community of users, including a user registry, e-forums, e-journals (or blogs), online photo albums,
and events calendar.
Key Features
The following key features of the new project website are now easily accessible from the homepage:
1. Partner Network contact details for all project partners searchable by partner type and
country
2. Coordinating
Unit
contact details for PCU members
3. Demonstration
Sites
pages for each demonstration site searchable by habitat and country
4. RWGs
&
RTFs
pages for each RWG and RWG searchable by project component
5. NAPs & SAPs pages for the SAP and each National Action Plan (searchable by the project
component and country)
6. E-Forums
electronic forums for each demonstration site, RWG and RTF
7. SCS Documents document repository searchable by category or keyword with fast
downloads
8. National
Publications
overview of national language publications produced by the project
9. SCS GIS and Meta-database updateable by select project partners via a secure login
10. Events Calendar upcoming events searchable by day, week, month and keyword
11. User Directory accessible to registered users following login, user profiles updateable
12. Photo Album categorised and searchable by keywords
13. Project Links project related web links, facility for registered users to add links
14. Project News latest news from the South China Sea Project
15. SCS Blogs User e-journal facility
2
UNEP/GEF/SCS/WEB.1
7
13
6
12
9
10
9
2
7
3
8
14
5
4
1
10
15
11
14
Figure 1
Layout of the South China Sea Project website homepage (the numbers relate to the
key features outlined on Page 2).
3
UNEP/GEF/SCS/WEB.1
Preliminary Strategy for Initiating Partner Contributions to the Website
By using the facilities of the Joomla content management system, it is intended that more project
participants will be able to contribute material directly to the project website, which may assist in
developing a sense of ownership over the site amongst project partners. In fact, the PCU hopes that,
in the longer run, the project partner network can assume high levels of responsibility for the operation
and maintenance of the website.
The system distinguishes 5 types of website users:
· Public who have rights to use all publicly available aspects of the website
· Registered who have rights to use e-forums, contribute news items, and submit web links
· Authors who have rights to create content for the website
· Editors who have rights to decide on what content will be published on the website and
where
· Publishers who have rights to publish content to the website
The level of rights and control over what is published to the website increases from the public user
level to the publisher level. Users with higher levels of control over the site also have the same rights
as those users with less control, although it is possible to restrict the rights or level of control of all
users to specific parts of the site. For instance, the manager of a demonstration site may be assigned
publisher level rights to a part of the website relating to that demonstration site, and be assigned
registered user rights for the rest of the site.
Step 1
Initially, all project partners will be set-up as registered users, and usernames and passwords will be
sent to them by the PCU. These users will be able to update their individual online profiles, participate
in the e-forums, and submit basic content such as news items, information about upcoming events,
and web links to their own or other interesting websites. Any basic content submitted to the site by
these users will not go public until the PCU reviews, approves, and publishes the material in the
private administration area of the website.
Step 2
As the registered users become familiar with the basics of the website, selected focal points, regional
experts, and demonstration site managers will be assigned authoring and editorial rights for the parts
of the website relating to the Regional Working Groups, Regional Task Forces, and Demonstration
Sites that they are associated with. Initially, the action of actually publishing the changes made to the
website by these users will remain the responsibility of the PCU, although the PCU will assign
publisher rights to these users for their parts of the site following a brief trial period.
Step 3
In November 2006 the PCU will invite the 7th Meeting of the Regional Scientific and Technical
Committee to (a) evaluate and comment on the contributions of the partner network to the project
website, and to (b) nominate individuals from the partner network capable of assuming authoring,
editorial, and publisher responsibilities for the site during 2007 and 2008. The PCU will then invite the
nominated individuals to participate in a brief period of training on the administration of the website.
Interested individuals will be trained and assume responsibility for all aspects of the site. The 8th
Meeting of the Regional Scientific and Technical Committee in 2007 will be invited to advise the PCU
on how the site can be best developed to support future actions.
Instructional Manual for the Website
The Project Co-ordinating Unit has prepared an instructional guide on the use of www.unepscs.org.
This guide has been sent to all project partners and can be downloaded from the "Instructions" section
of the website's document repository.
4