This initiative focuses on the implementation of the Arafura and Timor Seas (ATS) Strategic Action Program (SAP) that was endorsed by the ministers of Australia, Indonesia and Timor Leste in 2014. The SAP outlines the regional and national/local actions to address transboundary environmental concerns that include: a) the increasing pressure from unsustainable fisheries and decline and loss of living coastal and marine resources; b) modification, degradation and loss of coastal and marine habitats; c) marine and land-based pollution; d) decline and loss of key species; and e) climate change.

The objective is to enhance the sustainable development of the ATS region to protect biodiversity and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants through conservation and sustainable management of marine-coastal ecosystems. The following interventions serve to address the obstacles to sustainable management of this large marine ecosystem: a) supporting regional governance towards joint management of the ATS by the littoral countries; b) recovery of and sustaining fisheries; c) restoring degraded habitats for sustainable provision of ecosystem services; d) reducing land-based and marine sources of pollution; e) protecting key marine species; f) supporting people- and ecosystem-based adaptation to the impacts of climate change.