The CCOP was founded under the auspices of the United Nations (ESCAP) in 1966 with the name ‘The Committee for Co-ordination of Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in Asian Offshore Areas’. Initially its remit was to “promote and co-ordinate the planning and implementation of joint prospecting programmes and research in Asian offshore and geologically related areas of countries who are members of CCOP”. The founding members were China, Japan, Republic of Korea and The Philippines. Funding for its activities came mainly from the United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP).

          In the ensuing years, membership of the organisation expanded rapidly and currently includes eleven participating states following the addition of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. At the same time its remit gradually broadened to encompass activities related to prospecting onshore as well as offshore, geoscientific aspects of the development of the coastal zones of its participating states and the dissemination of geoscience information helpful for geohazard mitigation and the protection of life and property

          In 1987 CCOP became an independent intergovernmental organisation, though it continued to receive considerable institutional support and project funding from the UNDP until 1991. As an intergovernmental organisation, CCOP is strongly oriented towards regional co-operation through its programmes and it benefits from the considerable financial and technical support of its Co-operating Countries and Organisations as well as the Member Countries.

          This change of emphasis is also reflected in the change of the organization’s name.