The Future of Biodiversity pot

SPECIAL REPORTS 6 Nations unite vs biodiversity loss World’s biggest biodiversity conference held in Nagoya 9 New global strategy to halt biodiversity loss 15 International regime

VOL 9 ! NO 3 ! SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2010

A Malayan egg fl y pupa

Photo by Wong Ah Kim (entry to the

ASEAN-wide photo contest “Zooming

in on Biodiversity)

While the ASEAN region, like the rest

of the world, failed to meet the global

target of reducing biodiversity loss,

hope remains Biodiversity loss can

still be prevented if factors driving

biodiversity loss are addressed now.

SPECIAL REPORTS

6 Nations unite vs biodiversity loss

World’s biggest biodiversity conference held in Nagoya

9 New global strategy to halt biodiversity loss

15 International regime on ABS

Nations to share benefi ts of world’s genetic resources

16 World to mobilize resources vs biodiversity loss

17 Nations adopt new treaty on living modifi ed organisms

18 UNEP launches The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity

19 New book features ASEAN Heritage Parks

20 ASEAN countries: On way to reaping benefi ts from biodiversity

24 ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook

Biodiversity Beyond 2010

29 ACB Side Events at COP10

FEATURE

31 Teen Eco-hero: Championing biodiversity at 14

34 First ASEAN tribal olympics

36 Marine protected area support network in the Philippines

45 ACB and FREELAND Foundation unite

for wildlife enforcement

45 Asia’s forest managers trained to wrest

control from poachers, illegal loggers

62 ASEAN and Germany cooperate

on biodiversity and climate change

62 Int’l forum links business and biodiversity

63 Search for biodiversity champions

in Southeast Asia

60

64 Science journalists hold seminar

on biodiversity

64 ACB holds workshop on PA integration

65 Expert conclude review process for protected areas data in Asia

66 Aiming for stronger biodiversity informatics in Asia

67 ASEAN +3 boost taxonomic capacities

on corals

68 Asian and European schools fi ght climate change

68 NASA expert discusses GBO network

69 MBG opens rainforest biodiversity diorama

69 Strengthening law enforcement

in Mts Iglit-Baco

70 Science fi lm fest features web of life

71 Padunungan 2010 highlights biodiversity

71 APC celebrates biodiversity week

71 IYB wins Green Award

72 Cancun climate change confab sets path

to low emissions future

73 GEO-5 in the making

74 BIODIVERSITY NEWS SOUTHEAST ASIA

47

3F ERDB Bldg Forestry Campus

University of the Philippines-Los Baños

College, Laguna, Philippines

Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center

North Avenue, Diliman,

Quezon City 1156

Philippines

Printed by: Dolmar Press, Inc.

No of Copies: 2,000

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed

herein do not necessarily represent

any offi cial views of the European

Union nor the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat The

authors are responsible for any data or

information presented in their articles

Letters, articles, suggestions and

photos are welcome and should be

addressed to:

The Editor-in-Chief

ASEAN Biodiversity Magazine

ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

College, Laguna

E-mails: rainciong@aseanbiodiversity.org

lavjose2@aseanbiodiversity.org

sbbarrer@aseanbiodiversity.org

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Steve Galster is the Chief of Party of the ASEAN-WEN Support Program and Director of the Bangkok-based FREELAND Foundation His background covers investigative research and media campaigning relating to wildlife traffi cking, arms traffi cking, and human traffi cking in many parts of the world, including the former Soviet Union, U.S., China, Afghanistan, Africa and Southeast Asia Investigative reports and fi lms he de- veloped about wildlife and human traffi cking have been featured in TIME magazine, CNN, BBC, ABC, US News and World Report, as well as by many Russian, East European and Asian media outlets Mr Galster presently directs a USAID-funded program to support ASEAN Member States in combating wildlife crime in the region through the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network

Brian V Gonzales is the program liaison offi cer of the ASEAN-WEN Support Program under FREELAND Foundation He works closely with the ASEAN-WEN Program Coordination Unit (PCU) and the ASEAN-WEN National Focal Points on policy development, program management, sustainability strategy, partnership development and PCU operations He has over 10 years environmental policy and capacity building experi- ence in Asia, including the past four with ASEAN-WEN Previously, he worked for the Asian Development Bank on multisectoral partnerships for clean air and with WWF’s Southeast Asia Policy Program

Dr Antonio Manila is a forestry and rural development specialist with 33 years of professional experience

in community/social forestry, watershed management, forest renewal programs, protected sity conservation and environmental projects He has led a number of organizations that have focused on protected areas, biodiversity conservation, and community-based forest management, including the ASEAN Institute of Forest Management (AIFM) in Malaysia, Conservation of Priority Protected Areas Project, and the National Integrated Protected Areas Programme At the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Philippines, he served as Chief of the Wildlife Resources Division and more recently as Assistant Director Dr Manila received his PhD in Forestry from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos, Laguna, with Silviculture and Forest Ecosystems Management as the major fi eld of specialization Dr Manila is currently the Regional Technical Director for Forest Management Service, NCR, Philippines.

areas/biodiver-Lynette T Laroya is a Senior Ecosystems Management Specialist, and is Chief of the Resources tion and Habitat Management Section of the Biodiversity Management Division of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Philippines (PAWB) She has a degree in Biology from Adamson University, and has

Protec-a MProtec-asters Degree in Applied Science from Lincoln University, Christchurch, New ZeProtec-alProtec-and Ms LProtec-aroyProtec-a is currently involved in the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) as part of the National CTI Coordinating Committee Secretariat She is also the focal point for coastal and marine concerns in the Biodiversity Management Division of PAWB.

The future of biodiversity is in our hands.

Let us work together to conserve the web of life.

N agoya, Japan took center stage when it hosted

the world’s biggest biodiversity conference ever, drawing 15,000 representatives of governments and their partners from 193 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) The 10th Meeting

of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the CBD, held

from October 18 to 29, 2010, resulted in the adoption by

fi ve heads of state and 130 ministers of environment of an

agreement on access and benefi t sharing of the world’s rich but

highly threatened biodiversity The Parties also adopted a new

strategic plan for reducing biodiversity loss from 2011 to 2020

with a new biodiversity vision for 2050, a resource mobilization

strategy, and a proposal to the United Nations to declare

2011-2020 as the UN Decade on Biodiversity.

Nations unite vs biodiversity loss

Photos courtesy of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director Jochen Flasbarth, president of the COP9 bureau

Major decisions were

made in the areas of

inte-grating biodiversity into

poverty eradication and

de-velopment, scientifi c and

technical cooperation,

tech-nology transfer and

coopera-tion, gender mainstreaming,

public awareness, business

engagement, South-South cooperation, participation

of local governments, CBD cooperation with other rele-vant conventions, ecosystems biodiversity, climate change, biofuels, invasive alien spe-cies, and taxonomy, among others The COP decisions may be downloaded from http://www.cbd.int/deci-sions/cop

A number of important activities were held during COP10 Among them were:

a session on business and diversity attended by over 500 companies from 13 countries;

bio-a meeting of 200 city mbio-ay-ors from around the world which adopted a plan that will strengthen the conserva-tion and sustainable use of ur-ban biodiversity; a ministerial meeting to prepare the Cancun Climate Change Conference

may-on issues related to sustainable forest management, climate change and biodiversity; and

a summit on parliamentarians and biodiversity

Jochen Flasbarth of many, on behalf of the COP9 Presidency, declared the meet-ing open and pointed to the failure to meet the 2010 bio-diversity target, calling for fi -nalizing the strategic plan and the international ABS regime

Ger-He then handed the COP chairmanship to Ryu Matsu-moto, Environment Minister

of Japan

COP10 President moto said this was a critical time for measures to protect biodiversity, and called for new realistic global targets and for the establishment

Matsu-of an international ABS gime

re-Masaaki Kanda, nor of the Prefecture of Aichi, shared the expectation that COP 10 will adopt post-2010 targets and the international ABS regime

Gover-Takashi Kawamura, Mayor

of the City of Nagoya, stressed the important role of munici-palities and citizens in living in harmony with nature

Achim Steiner, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director, expressed UNEP’s commit-ment to address shortcom-ings in multilateral environ-mental agreements’ parallel governance and administra-tive arrangements, and em-phasized that COP10 can become a source of inspira-tion for successful multilat-eralism

Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, termed COP10 as the most impor-tant meeting on biodiversity

in UN history, in light of the relevance of the strategic plan and the ABS protocol, for sustainable develop-ment

Delegates witnessed a performance of traditional arts, with Yoko Deva playing the Shinobue (Japanese fl ute) and the Kakashi-za group in Tekage-e (shadow play) They also saw a video prepared by the Japanese government and

a performance of the song

“Life in Harmony” by Misia, COP10 Honorary Ambas-sador

The CBD, where all ASEAN Member States are Parties, is an international treaty for the conservation

of biodiversity, the able use of the components

sustain-of biodiversity, and the uitable sharing of the ben-efi ts derived from the use of genetic resources The CBD seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including threats from climate change, through scientifi c assessments; the de-velopment of tools, incentives and processes; the transfer

eq-of technologies and good practices; and the full and ac-tive involvement of stakehold-ers including indigenous and local communities, youth, NGOs, women and the busi-ness community

The Strategic Plan for

Bio-diversity 2011-2020 aims to

promote effective

implemen-tation of the CBD through a

strategic approach,

compris-ing a shared vision, a mission,

and strategic goals and targets

(the Aichi Biodiversity

Tar-gets) that will inspire

broad-based action by all Parties and

stakeholders

The plan provides a fl

ex-ible framework for the

designed to halt the loss of biological diversity Environment ministers from 193 countries that attended the two-week Conference of the Parties

to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan

in October 2010 signed the Nagoya Biodiversity Compact, a new strategy that aims to reduce by half the loss of natural habitats and raise nature reserves to 17 per cent of the world’s land area and 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas by 2020.

NEW GLOBAL STRATEGY TO HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS

tablishment of national and regional targets and for en-hancing coherence in the implementation of the pro-visions of the CBD and the decisions of the Conference

of the Parties, including the programs of work and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, as well as the Nagoya Protocol on Access

to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing

of the Benefi ts Arising from their Utilization

The plan also serves as the basis for the development of communication tools capable

of attracting the attention of and engaging stakeholders, thereby facilitating the main-streaming of biodiversity into broader national and global agendas

Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, ecutive Secretary of the CBD,

Ex-said that with countries agreeing to craft new nation-

al biological diversity plans, they will have an instrument

to stop over-fi shing, reduce pollution, protect coral reefs, and reduce the loss of genetic diversity in agricultural eco-systems The full texts of the Strategic Plan and the Biodi-versity Targets are published

in this magazine

R.A Inciong

1 The purpose of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity

2011-2020 is to promote effective implementation of the

Conven-tion through a strategic approach, comprising a shared vision,

a mission, and strategic goals and targets (the Aichi

Biodiver-sity Targets), that will inspire broad-based action by all Parties

and stakeholders The Strategic Plan will also provide a fl

ex-ible framework for the establishment of national and regional

targets and for enhancing coherence in the implementation

of the provisions of the Convention and the decisions of the

Conference of the Parties, including the programs of work

and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation as well as

the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the

Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefi ts Arising from their

Utilization It will also serve as the basis for the development

of communication tools capable of attracting the attention

of and engaging stakeholders, thereby facilitating the

main-streaming of biodiversity into broader national and global

agendas A separate Strategic Plan has been adopted for the

Biosafety Protocol that will complement the present one for

the Convention

2 The text of the Convention, and in particular its three

ob-jectives, provide the fundamental basis for the Strategic Plan

I THE RATIONALE FOR THE PLAN

3 Biological diversity underpins ecosystem functioning

and the provision of ecosystem services essential for human

well-being It provides for food security, human health, the

provision of clean air and water; it contributes to local

liveli-hoods, and economic development, and is essential for the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,

includ-ing poverty reduction

4 The Convention on Biological Diversity has three

ob-jectives: the conservation of biological diversity; the

sustain-able use of its components; and the fair and equitsustain-able sharing

of benefi ts arising out of the utilization of genetic resources

In the Convention’s fi rst Strategic Plan, adopted in 2002, the

Parties committed themselves to a more effective and

coher-ent implemcoher-entation of the three objectives of the Convcoher-ention,

to achieve by 2010 a signifi cant reduction of the current rate

of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level

as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefi t of

all life on Earth The third edition of the Global Biodiversity

Outlook (GBO-3), drawing upon national reports, indicators

and research studies, assesses progress towards the 2010

tar-get, and provides scenarios for the future of biodiversity

5 The 2010 biodiversity target has inspired action at

many levels However, such actions have not been on a scale

suffi cient to address the pressures on biodiversity Moreover,

there has been insuffi cient integration of biodiversity issues

into broader policies, strategies, programs and actions, and

therefore the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss have not been signifi cantly reduced While there is now some under-standing of the linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem ser-vices and human well-being, the value of biodiversity is still not refl ected in broader policies and incentive structures

6 Most Parties identify a lack of fi nancial, human and technical resources as limiting their implementation of the Convention Technology transfer under the Convention has been very limited Insuffi cient scientifi c information for policy and decision making is a further obstacle for the implemen-tation of the Convention However, scientifi c uncertainty should not be used as an excuse for inaction

7 The 2010 biodiversity target has not been achieved, at least not at the global level The diversity of genes, species and ecosystems continues to decline, as the pressures on biodiver-sity remain constant or increase in intensity mainly, as a result

of human actions

8 Scientifi c consensus projects a continuing loss of tats and high rates of extinctions throughout this century if current trends persist, with the risk of drastic consequences

habi-to human societies as several thresholds or tipping points are crossed Unless urgent action is taken to reverse current trends, a wide range of services derived from ecosystems, un-derpinned by biodiversity, could rapidly be lost While the harshest impacts will fall on the poor, thereby undermining efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, no-one will be immune from the impacts of the loss of biodi-versity

9 On the other hand, scenario analysis reveals a wide range of options for addressing the crisis Determined action

to value and protect biodiversity will benefi t people in many ways, including through better health, greater food security and less poverty It will also help to slow climate change by enabling ecosystems to store and absorb more carbon; and it will help people adapt to climate change by adding resilience

to ecosystems and making them less vulnerable Better tion of biodiversity is therefore a prudent and cost-effective investment in risk reduction for the global community

protec-10 Achieving this positive outcome requires actions at multiple entry points, which are refl ected in the goals of this Strategic Plan These include:

(a) Initiating action to address the underlying causes of

bio-diversity loss, including production and consumption patterns,

by ensuring that biodiversity concerns are mainstreamed throughout government and society, through communication, education and awareness, appropriate incentive measures, and institutional change;

(b) Taking action now to decrease the direct pressures on

biodiversity Engagement of the agricultural, forest, fi

sher-ies, tourism, energy and other sectors will be essential to

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR BIODIVERSITY 2011-2020

AND THE AICHI BIODIVERSITY TARGETS

“Living In Harmony With Nature”

success Where trade-offs between biodiversity protection and

other social objectives exist, they can often be minimized by

us-ing approaches such as spatial plannus-ing and effi ciency measures

Where multiple pressures are threatening vital ecosystems and

their services, urgent action is needed to decrease those pressures

most amenable to short-term relief, such as over-exploitation or

pollution, so as to prevent more intractable pressures, in

particu-lar climate change, from pushing the system over the edge to a

degraded state;

(c) Continuing direct action to safeguard and, where necessary,

restore biodiversity and ecosystem services While longer-term

ac-tions to reduce the underlying causes of biodiversity are taking

effect, immediate action can help conserve biodiversity,

includ-ing in critical ecosystems, by means of protected areas, habitat

restoration, species recovery programs and other targeted

con-servation interventions;

(d) Efforts to ensure the continued provision of ecosystem

ser-vices and to ensure access to these serser-vices, especially for the poor

who most directly depend on them Maintenance and restoration

of ecosystems generally provide cost-effective ways to address

climate change Therefore, although climate change is an

addi-tional major threat to biodiversity, addressing this threat opens

up a number of opportunities for biodiversity conservation and

sustainable use;

(e) Enhanced support mechanisms for capacity-building; the

generation, use and sharing of knowledge; and access to the necessary

fi nancial and other resources National planning processes need

to become more effective in mainstreaming biodiversity and in

highlighting its relevance for social and economic agendas

Con-vention bodies need to become more effective in reviewing

im-plementation and providing support and guidance to Parties

II VISION

11 The vision of this Strategic Plan is a world of “Living

in harmony with nature” where “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem ser-vices, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefi ts essen-tial for all people.”

III THE MISSION OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN

12 The mission of the Strategic Plan is to “take effective and urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that by 2020 ecosystems are resilient and continue to provide essential services, thereby securing the planet’s variety of life, and contributing to human well-being and poverty eradication

To ensure this, pressures on biodiversity are reduced, tems are restored, biological resources are sustainably used and benefi ts arising out of utilization of genetic resources are shared

ecosys-in a fair and equitable manner; adequate fi nancial resources are provided, capacities are enhanced, biodiversity issues and values mainstreamed, appropriate policies are effectively implemented, and decision-making is based on sound science and the precau-tionary approach.”

IV STRATEGIC GOALS AND THE AICHI BIODIVERSITY TARGETS

13 The Strategic Plan includes 20 headline targets for

2015 or 2020 (the “Aichi Biodiversity Targets”), organized der fi ve strategic goals The goals and targets comprise both: (i) aspirations for achievement at the global level; and (ii) a fl ex-ible framework for the establishment of national or regional targets Parties are invited to set their own targets within this

un-fl exible framework, taking into account national needs and priorities, while also bearing in mind national contributions to the achievement of the global targets Not all countries neces-sarily need to develop a national target for each and every glob-

al target For some countries, the global threshold set through certain targets may already have been achieved Other targets may not be relevant in the country context

Strategic Goal A Address the underlying causes of sity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society By 2010:

biodiver-Target 1: People are aware of the values of biodiversity and

the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably

Target 2: Biodiversity values have been integrated into

national and local development and poverty reduction gies and planning processes and are being incorporated into national accounting, as appropriate, and reporting systems

strate-Target 3: Incentives, including subsidies, harmful to

biodi-versity are eliminated, phased out or reformed in order to mize or avoid negative impacts, and positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are developed and applied, consistent and in harmony with the Convention and other relevant international obligations, taking into account national socio economic conditions

mini-Target 4: Governments, business and stakeholders at all

levels have taken steps to achieve or have implemented plans for sustainable production and consumption and have kept the

Photo by Edgan Castañeda

A farmer carries rice seedlings ready to be planted.

impacts of use of natural resources well within safe ecological

limits

Strategic Goal B Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity

and promote sustainable use By 2020:

Target 5: The rate of loss of all natural habitats, including

forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero,

and degradation and fragmentation is signifi cantly reduced

Target 6: All fi sh and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants

are managed and harvested sustainably, legally and applying

eco-system based approaches, so that overfi shing is avoided, recovery

plans and measures are in place for all depleted species, fi sheries

have no signifi cant adverse impacts on threatened species and

vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of fi sheries on stocks,

species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits

Target 7: Areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry

are managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity

Target 8: Pollution, including from excess nutrients, has

been brought to levels that are not detrimental to ecosystem

function and biodiversity

Target 9: Invasive alien species and pathways are identifi ed

and prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and

measures are in place to manage pathways to prevent their

intro-duction and establishment

Target 10: By 2015, the multiple anthropogenic pressures

on coral reefs and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by

climate change or ocean acidifi cation are minimized, so as to

maintain their integrity and functioning

Strategic Goal C Improve the status of biodiversity

by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity

By 2020:

Target 11: At least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland

water areas, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas,

es-pecially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and

ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and

equi-tably managed, ecologically representative and well connected

systems of protected areas and other effective area-based

con-servation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes

and seascapes

Target 12: The extinction of known threatened species has

been prevented and their conservation status, particularly of

those most in decline, has been improved and sustained

Target 13: The genetic diversity of cultivated plants and

farmed and domesticated animals and of wild relatives,

in-cluding other socio-economically as well as culturally valuable

species is maintained, and strategies have been developed and

implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding

their genetic diversity

Strategic Goal D: Enhance the benefi ts to all from

biodiversity and ecosystem services By 2020:

Target 14: Ecosystems that provide essential services,

in-cluding services related to water, and contribute to health,

liveli-hoods and well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking into

account the needs of women, indigenous and local

communi-ties, and the poor and vulnerable

Target 15: Ecosystem resilience and the contribution of

biodiversity to carbon stocks has been enhanced, through conservation and restoration, including restoration of at least

15 per cent of degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertifi cation

Target 16: By 2015, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to

Ge-netic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefi ts Arising from their Utilization is in force and operational, consis-tent with national legislation

Strategic Goal E Enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity-building.

Target 17: By 2015, each Party has developed, adopted as

a policy instrument, and has commenced implementing an fective, participatory and updated national biodiversity strategy and action plan

ef-Target 18: By 2020, the traditional knowledge, innovations

and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and their customary use of biological resources, are respected, subject to national legislation and relevant international obligations, and fully integrated and refl ected in the implementation of the Con-vention with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities, at all relevant levels

Target 19: By 2020, knowledge, the science base and

tech-nologies relating to biodiversity, its values, functioning, status and trends, and the consequences of its loss, are improved, wide-

ly shared and transferred, and applied

Target 20: By 2020, at the latest, the mobilization of fi

nan-cial resources for effectively implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 from all sources, and in accordance with the consolidated and agreed process in the Strategy for Resource Mobilization, should increase substantially from the current lev-els This target will be subject to changes contingent to resource needs assessments to be developed and reported by Parties

V IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING, REVIEW AND EVALUATION

14 Means for implementation: The Strategic Plan will

be implemented primarily through activities at the national or subnational level, with supporting action at the regional and global levels The means of implementation for this Strategic Plan will include provision of fi nancial resources in accordance with respective obligations under the Convention, taking into account Article 20 of the Convention The Strategic Plan pro-vides a fl exible framework for the establishment of national and regional targets National biodiversity strategies and action plans are key instruments for translating the Strategic Plan to national circumstances, including through the national targets, and for integrating biodiversity across all sectors of government and society The participation of all relevant stakeholders should

be promoted and facilitated at all levels of implementation Initiatives and activities of indigenous and local communities, contributing to the implementation of the Strategic Plan at the local level, should be supported and encouraged The means for

implementation may vary from country to country, according

to national needs and circumstances Nonetheless, countries

should learn from each other when determining appropriate

means for implementation It is in this spirit that examples of

the possible means for implementation are provided in the note

by the Executive Secretary on the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity

2011-2020: provisional technical rationale, possible indicators

and suggested milestones for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets It is

envisaged that implementation will be further supported by the

Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair

and Equitable Sharing of the Benefi ts Arising from their

Utiliza-tion and other components of the internaUtiliza-tional regime on access

and benefi t-sharing which will facilitate the fair and equitable

sharing of benefi ts arising from the use of genetic resources

15 The programs of work: The thematic programs of

work of the Convention include: biodiversity of inland waters,

marine and coastal biodiversity, agricultural biodiversity, forest

biodiversity, biodiversity of dry and sub-humid lands, mountain

biodiversity and island biodiversity Together with the various

cross-cutting issues, they provide detailed guidance on

imple-mentation of the Strategic Plan, and could also contribute to

development and poverty reduction They are key tools to be

considered in the updating of national biodiversity strategies

and action plans

16 Broadening political support for this Strategic Plan

and the objectives of the Convention is necessary, for example,

by working to ensure that Heads of State and Government and

the parliamentarians of all Parties understand the value of

biodi-versity and ecosystem services Parties to the Convention should

be encouraged to establish national biodiversity targets that

sup-port the achievement of the Strategic Plan and the Aichi

Biodi-versity Targets and outline the measures and activities that will

achieve this, such as the development of comprehensive national

accounting, as appropriate, that integrates the values of

biodi-versity and ecosystem services into government decision-making with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities and other stakeholders

17 Partnerships at all levels are required for effective

imple-mentation of the Strategic Plan, to leverage actions at the scale necessary, to garner the ownership necessary to ensure main-streaming of biodiversity across sectors of government, society and the economy and to fi nd synergies with national implemen-tation of multilateral environmental agreements Partnerships with the programs, funds and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, as well as with other conventions and multi-lateral and bilateral agencies, foundations, women, indigenous and local communities, and non-governmental organizations, will be essential to support implementation of the Strategic Plan at the national level At the international level, this requires partnerships between the Convention and other conventions, international organizations and processes, civil society and the private sector In particular, efforts will be needed to:

(a) Ensure that the Convention, through its new Strategic Plan, contributes to sustainable development and the elimina-tion of poverty, and the other Millennium Development Goals;(b) Ensure cooperation to achieve implementation of the Plan in different sectors;

(c) Promote biodiversity-friendly practice by business; and(d) Promote synergy and coherence in the implementation

of the multilateral environmental agreements

18 Reporting by Parties: Parties will inform the

Confer-ence of the Parties of the national targets or commitments and policy instruments they adopt to implement the Strategic Plan,

as well as any milestones towards these targets, and report on progress towards these targets and milestones, including through their fi fth and sixth national reports Suggested milestones, as well as suggested indicators, are to be developed in accordance with the processes laid out in Paragraphs 3 (b), (e) and 17 (g)

Photo by Rolly Inciong

Rows of trees on a mountain side in Bohol, Philippines.

of Decision X/2 on the Strategic Plan as well as Decision X/7

on goals, targets and associated indicators Parliamentarians,

by responding to the needs and expectations of citizens on a

regular basis, should play a role in reviewing the

implementa-tion of the Convenimplementa-tion at the naimplementa-tional and subnaimplementa-tional levels,

as appropriate, to help Governments produce a more

compre-hensive review

19 Review by the Conference of the Parties: The

Con-ference of the Parties, with the support of other Convention

bodies, in particular the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group

on Review of Implementation of the Convention, will keep

under review implementation of this Strategic Plan, and

sup-port effective implementation by Parties ensuring that new

guidance is informed by the experience of Parties in

imple-menting the Convention, in line with the principle of adaptive

management through active learning The Conference of the

Parties will review the progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity

Targets as set out in the Strategic Plan and make

recommen-dations to overcome any obstacles encountered in meeting

those targets, including revision of the provisional technical

rationale, possible indicators and suggested milestones for the

Aichi Biodiversity Targets and measures contained therein,

and, as appropriate, to strengthen the mechanisms to

sup-port implementation, monitoring and review To facilitate

this work, the Subsidiary Body on Scientifi c, Technical and

Technological Advice (SBSTTA) should develop a common

set of biodiversity metrics to be used to assess the status of

biodiversity and its values

VI.SUPPORT MECHANISMS

20 Capacity-building for effective national action:

Many Parties, especially the developing countries, in

particu-lar the least developed countries, small island developing States

and the most environmentally vulnerable countries, as well as

countries with economies in transition, may require support for

the development of national targets and their integration into

national biodiversity strategies and action plans, revised and

updated in line with this Strategic Plan and guidance from the

Conference of the Parties (Decision IX/8) Global and regional

capacity-building programs could provide technical support

and facilitate peer-to-peer exchange, complementing national

activities supported by the fi nancial mechanism in line with the

four-year framework of program priorities related to utilization

of GEF resources for biodiversity for the period from 2010 to

2014 (Decision IX/31) Capacity-building on gender

main-streaming in accordance with the Convention’s gender plan of

action, and for indigenous and local communities concerning

the implementation of the Strategic Plan at national and

subna-tional levels should be supported

21 The Strategic Plan will be implemented through the

programs of work of the Convention on Biological Diversity,

implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action

plans, and other national, regional and international activities

22 Clearing-house mechanism and technology

trans-fer: Collectively those involved in implementing the

Conven-tion have a wealth of experience and have developed many

useful good practice cases, tools and guidance There is

ad-ditional useful information beyond this community A diversity knowledge network will be developed, including a database and network of practitioners, to bring together this knowledge and experience and to make it available through the clearing-house mechanism to facilitate and support en-hanced implementation of the Convention National clearing-house mechanism nodes comprising networks of experts with effective websites should be developed and sustained so that

bio-in each Party, all have access to the bio-information, expertise and experience required to implement the Convention National clearing-house mechanism nodes should also be linked to the central clearing-house mechanism managed by the Conven-tion Secretariat, and information exchange between these should be facilitated

23 Financial resources: The strategy for resource

mobili-zation including the proposed concrete initiatives, targets and indicators to be developed, and processes for developing in-novative mechanisms, provides a roadmap for achieving the effective implementation of Article 20, paragraphs 2 and 4, of the Convention, in order to provide adequate, predictable and timely new and additional fi nancial resources, in support of the implementation of this Strategic Plan

24 Partnerships and initiatives to enhance

coopera-tion: Cooperation will be enhanced with the programs, funds

and specialized agencies of the United Nations system as well

as conventions and other multilateral and bilateral agencies, foundations and non-governmental organizations and indig-enous and local communities, to support implementation of the Strategic Plan at the national level Cooperation will also

be enhanced with relevant regional bodies to promote

region-al biodiversity strategies and the integration of biodiversity into broader initiatives Initiatives of the Convention such as South-South cooperation, promoting engagement of subna-tional governments, cities and local authorities, and business and biodiversity and promoting the engagement of parliamen-tarians, including through inter-parliamentary dialogues will contribute to the implementation of the Strategic Plan

25 Support mechanisms for research, monitoring and

assessment: The following are key elements to ensure effective

implementation of the Strategic Plan:

(a) Global monitoring of biodiversity: work is needed to monitor the status and trends of biodiversity, maintain and share data, and develop and use indicators and agreed mea-sures of biodiversity and ecosystem change;

(b) Regular assessment of the state of biodiversity and system services, future scenarios and effectiveness of responses: this could be provided through an enhanced role for the Sub-sidiary Body on Scientifi c, Technical and Technological Ad-vice as well as the proposed intergovernmental platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services;

eco-(c) Ongoing research on biodiversity and ecosystem tion and services and their relationship to human well-being; (d) The contributions of knowledge, innovations and prac-tices of indigenous and local communities relevant to the con-servation and sustainable use of biodiversity to all the above;(e) Capacity-building and timely, adequate, predictable

func-and sustainable fi nancial func-and technical resources !

Coming on the last day

of the two-week Conference

of the Parties to the

Conven-tion on Biological Diversity

(CBD), the new treaty is a

protocol to the CBD which

establishes an International

Regime on Access and Benefi t

Sharing of Genetic Resources

(ABS) and lays down the basic

ground rules on how

coun-tries will cooperate in

obtain-ing genetic resources

Many countries own

plants that serve as source

of genetic resources Other

countries turn such resources

into commercial products

Such situation has brought

disagreements between the

sources and the

develop-ers The new Nagoya

Pro-tocol on ABS outlines how

benefi ts will be shared with

countries and communities

who conserve and manage

genetic resources It lays out

rules on how substances and

the world’s genetic resources Meeting in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010, governments from around the world agreed to a new treaty on managing the planet’s wealth of genetic resources – from animals to plants to fungi – more fairly and systematically.

ge-of pathogens, including how developed countries could obtain a fl u virus in emer-gency situations to develop a vaccine to counter a possible epidemic

Dr Achim Steiner, tive Director of the UN Envi-ronment Programme, said the Nagoya Protocol highlights the day to celebrate in terms

Execu-of a new and innovative sponse to the alarming loss of biodiversity and ecosystems and opportunities for lives and livelihoods in terms of overcoming poverty and de-livering sustainable develop-ment

re-“This achievement also shows how countries can put aside the ‘narrow differences that all-too-often divide in favor of the broader, shared issues that can unite peoples

International regime on ABS

and nations’ I congratulate the governments for ‘bring-ing a fresh vision’ to the more intelligent management of life

on Earth,” Dr Steiner phasized

em-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the historic protocol, calling the agreement a signifi cant step

to reaching global ment goals

develop-“The new protocol vides an innovative approach

pro-to conserving and protecting the world’s rapidly diminish-ing living resources, while providing benefi ts to all, in particular, local communities

in developing countries,” Mr

Ban Ki-moon said

Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, ecutive Secretary of the CBD, described the protocol as one

Ex-of the most important legal instruments in the history of the environmental protection, saying it would help achieve

sustainable development and facilitate the achievement of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals, the eight poverty alleviation and social develop-ment targets which States and their partners have agreed to achieve by 2015

“The protocol will allow

us now to fully implement the Convention,” he said, “add-ing that it had established the foundation of a new interna-tional economic and ecologi-cal order based on respect of nature in its diversity, includ-ing human beings.”

R.A Inciong The complete text of the Nagoya Protocol on Access

to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing

of Benefi ts Arising from their Utilization to the Convention

on Biological Diversity may

be accessed at http://www.cbd int/abs/text/.

A global effort to pool resources to reduce biodiversity loss has been launched

with the adoption of a Resource Mobilization Strategy by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) The decision was made at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD in Nagoya, Japan

in national strategies for

sus-tainable development and

poverty reduction in order to

integrate biodiversity better

in the national, regional and

local decision-making

pro-cesses The Strategy reiterates

that national implementation

should include the design and

dissemination of a

country-specifi c resource mobilization

strategy, with the

involve-ment of key stakeholders, in

the framework of updated

national biodiversity strategy

and action plans

Parties were invited to

ap-point their respective resource

mobilization focal points

to facilitate national

imple-mentation of the strategy for

resource mobilization The

CBD Executive Secretary was

requested to organize regional

and subregional workshops to

assist with the development of

country-specifi c resource

mo-bilization strategies,

includ-ing for indigenous and local

communities The workshops will be part of the process

of updating national biodiversity strategy and action plans;

promote exchange

of experience and good practice in fi -nancing for biologi-cal diversity; and fa-cilitate the national monitoring of the outcomes of coun-try specifi c resource mobilization strate-gies The Global Environment Facil-ity will be engaged

to provide timely and adequate fi -nancial support for updating national biodiversity strat-egies and action plans, which may include the development of country-specifi c resource mobilization strategies

Recognizing that many developing countries have undertaken analyses of the values of their biodiversity

and are working to close the

fi nancial gap to effectively conserve their biological re-sources, the Strategy invites Parties to share their experi-ences and lessons learned It calls upon developed coun-tries to respond to the needs

identifi ed, and to create enabling con-ditions for those countries yet to un-dertake such analy-ses to identify their respective needs.The Strategy targets to increase the annual interna-tional fi nancial fl ows

by 2020 to partner countries to con-tribute to achieving the CBD’s three objectives; and pro-vide all Parties with adequate fi nancial resources by 2015 Possible sources of funding include Offi cial Develop-ment Assistance, domestic budgets, private sector, non-governmental organizations, foundations, academia, inter-national fi nancial institutions, United Nations organizations and programs, South-South cooperation initiatives, and technical cooperation

R.A Inciong

Photo by Tan Ai Bee

Tourists admire a giant tree

T he international community has adopted a new treaty

on rules and procedures on liability and redress for damage to biodiversity resulting from the use of living modifi ed organisms (LMOs)

NATIONS ADOPT NEW TREATY

ON LIVING MODIFIED ORGANISMS

The adoption of the new

treaty, after six years of

nego-tiations, came at the

conclu-sion of the fi ve-day meeting

of the governing body of the

Cartagena Protocol on

Bio-safety in Nagoya, Japan in

October 2010 The new

trea-ty is called the Nagoya-Kuala

Lumpur Supplementary

Pro-tocol on Liability and Redress

to the Cartagena Protocol

on Biosafety The Cartagena

Protocol on Biosafety is a

supplementary treaty to the

Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD) Biosafety

refers to the need to protect

biodiversity as well as human

and environmental health

from the potential adverse

ef-fects of the products of

mod-ern biotechnology

The Cartagena Protocol

seeks to protect biological

diversity from the potential

risks posed by living

modi-fi ed organisms resulting from

modern biotechnology To

date, more than 120

coun-tries have developed legal and

administrative frameworks

necessary to implement the

Protocol

Article 27 of the

Proto-col states that “the

Confer-ence of the Parties serving as

the meeting of the Parties to

this Protocol shall, at its first

meeting, adopt a process

with respect to the ate elaboration of interna-tional rules and procedures

appropri-in the field of liability and redress for damage resulting from transboundary move-ments of living modified organisms, analyzing and taking due account of the ongoing processes in inter-national law on these mat-ters, and shall endeavor to complete this process within four years.”

At its fi rst meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2003, the Parties to the Protocol estab-lished an Ad Hoc Open End-

ed Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts on Lia-bility and Redress to elaborate options for elements of inter-national rules and procedures

on liability and redress under the Protocol At its fourth meeting in Bonn, Germany

in 2008, the Parties, on the basis of the fi nal report of the Working Group, further nego-tiated and produced proposed operational texts for the inter-national rules and procedures

on liability and redress as the basis for further negotiations

To continue the process, the Parties established a Group of the Friends of the Co-Chairs Concerning Liability and Re-dress in the Context of the Protocol

The Group of the Friends

of the Co-Chairs further gotiated the proposed op-erational texts and produced draft text for a supplemen-tary protocol on liability and redress to the Biosafety Protocol The draft text was further negotiated at the sec-ond and fourth meetings of the Group The fourth meet-ing of the Group was held in Nagoya from October 6 to

ne-11, 2010, prior to the Fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol

Mr Rene Lefeber of the Netherlands, one of the Co-Chairs of the Group of the Friends of the Co-Chairs that negotiated the text of the new treaty said: “It has been many years since the last global en-vironmental agreement was agreed The adoption of a new supplementary Protocol during the International Year

of Biodiversity will give new impetus to multilateral envi-ronmental negotiations This agreement will also make important contribution to the on-going work under the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect life on earth.”

Signing of the new treaty

by member countries will gin on March 7, 2011 at the

be-UN Headquarters in New

York Countries will have until March 6, 2012 to sign the treaty, which will enter into force 90 days after being ratifi ed by at least 40 Parties

to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

The meeting in Nagoya also adopted a ten-year Stra-tegic Plan for the imple-mentation of the Protocol; a program of work on public awareness, education and par-ticipation concerning LMOs; and further guidance on risk assessment and risk manage-ment

In 1992, the CBD tified biosafety as one of the critical issues that should be addressed The importance placed on biosafety-related issues resulted in the adop-tion of the Biosafety Protocol

iden-to the CBD The Proiden-tocol provides a regulatory frame-work for biotechnology products, making it possible

to generate the maximum benefit from the potential that biotechnology has to offer, while minimizing the possible risks to human and environmental health Ac-cording to the CBD, risk assessment involves identi-fication and evaluation of potential adverse effects

In the ASEAN region, the Philippines, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam of the Association

of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) are in the process of developing or implementing their biosafety frameworks, policies and laws

R.A Inciong

T he United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched The

Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) reports at a side event

during the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention

on Biological Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010 The TEEB

reports present fi ndings from a global study on the economics of biodiversity loss.

UNEP LAUNCHES

THE ECONOMICS

OF ECOSYSTEMS

AND BIODIVERSITY

Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB

study leader, explained that

TEEB is not a cost-benefi t

analysis of the Earth He

ex-plained that TEEB recognizes

that biodiversity has many

different types of values, not

all of which can be given a

price tag He added that

mar-ket solutions represent only a

small fraction of the

econom-ic solutions available to value

biodiversity

Sukhdev highlighted

key findings from the TEEB

study, including that:

na-ture’s value must be made

visible; better management

requires better measurement;

incorporating ecosystem

services values into policy is

particularly critical for the

world’s poor because they

depend heavily on ecosystem

services for their livelihoods;

and ecosystem conservation

Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB study leader, stresses the urgency of upgrading the system of national accounts,

and of doing so in a manner that incorporates carbon soundly so that appropriate systems are in place to enable effective REDD+ development

Educational and inspirational

sites of high conservation portance, lush evergreen tropi-cal forests, and ecosystems that cradle life-giving resources for the ASEAN region’s over half a billion people

im-These are the 28 ASEAN Heritage Parks found across Southeast Asia

Taking a trip to these most derful natural destinations is now easier with the book “The ASEAN Heritage Parks: A Journey to the Natural Wonders of Southeast Asia.”

won-Launched at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Con-vention on Biological Diversity on October 19, 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, the book aims to encourage greater appreciation for the ASEAN’s natural heritage, as well as generate greater support for their protection and con-servation and encourage more collab-orative activities for their sustainable development and management

“The ASEAN Heritage Parks were lished to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation

estab-of ASEAN’s rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas, and to generate greater collaboration among ASEAN Member States in preserving their shared natural heritage,” said Dr Mo-nina Uriarte, editor-in-chief of the book

“As Secretariat of the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity produced the book in collabo-ration with the ASEAN Member States so that people may understand the signifi cance

of the ASEAN Heritage Parks to regional and global biodiversity, cultural identity, as well as the well-being of the people of the ASEAN region Stories on management ac-tivities and interrelationships between local communities and natural resources are fea-

and restoration should be

evaluated and pursued in

support of climate change

He introduced a partnership

between TEEB and

MO-FILM, a global community

of filmmakers, from which

25 TEEB-related films have

been selected and will be

made available online

Ibrahim Thiaw of UNEP

explained that the TEEB

study was spearheaded by

Germany and the European

Commission in response to a

proposal in 2007 by the G8+5

Environment Ministers

During the launching side

event, Hideki Minamikawa,

Japan’s Vice-Minister of the

Ministry of Environment,

on behalf of Japan’s Minister

of Environment, said TEEB

could be a revolutionary

mea-sure to trigger a new means

to facilitate poverty reduction

and biodiversity

conserva-tion

Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD

Executive Secretary, stressed

the importance of

integrat-ing fi ndintegrat-ings from TEEB into

the 2011-2020 strategic plan

for the CBD and the next

generation of National

Bio-diversity Strategies and

Ac-tion Plans

Nicola Breier,

Germa-ny’s Federal Minister for

the Environment, Nature

Conservation and Nuclear

Safety, said stakeholders

in-creasingly understand that

conserving biodiversity can

yield business and saving

opportunities, while

biodi-versity can also have a hard

economic value She said

the second phase of TEEB

requires implementing the

report’s fi ndings

Karl Falkenberg,

Euro-pean Commission director

general for the environment,

said TEEB demonstrates the

tured to provide a picture of the human element that is crucial to protected area management,” Dr Uriarte explained

“ASEAN shall continue to focus forts on the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme and also encourage further expanding the list of ASEAN Heritage Parks as well as World Heritage Cultural Sites in the region This is in support of the ASEAN Vision 2020 that calls for

ef-‘a clean and green ASEAN with fully established mechanisms to ensure the protection of the region’s environment, sustainability of its natural resources, and the high quality of life of its peoples’,”

Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN, said in his message

To know more about the book and

to order a copy, please e-mail contact.us@ aseanbiodiversity.org

NEW BOOK FEATURES ASEAN HERITAGE PARKS

enormous opportunities vided by nature Supporting Falkenberg, Braulio Ferreira

pro-de Souza Dias, Brazil’s try of the Environment, said

Minis-biodiversity concerns will not be mainstreamed in the absence of strong economic arguments He encouraged parties to remove brackets in

negotiating text to ensure that biodiversity is adequately ad-dressed in national account-ing

IISD Reporting Services

! By ROLANDO INCIONG

the use of biological resources for the development of high-yielding crop varieties, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other products despite holding 18 per cent of the world’s known plant, animal and marine species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Such situation, said Executive Director Rodrigo U Fuentes of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), reduces the incentive for the world’s biologically rich but economically poor countries to conserve and sustainably use their biodiversity

resources The indigenous peoples, in particular, have an intimate link with

biodiversity and it is no accident that along with the massive loss of biodiversity,

indigenous cultures with their largely undocumented knowledge are being wiped out, the executive director added

ASEAN COUNTRIES:

ON WAY TO REAPING

BENEFITS FROM

BIODIVERSITY

Addressing the

Interna-tional Conference on

Con-servation and Sustainable Use

of Biodiversity: Global

Envi-ronmental Action in Nagoya,

Japan in preparation for the

10th Meeting of the

Confer-ence of the Parties (COP10)

to the Convention on

Bio-logical Diversity (CBD),

Director Fuentes stressed the

need for equal access to and

protection of biological and

genetic resources

The ten member states of

the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN) have

a common interest to benefi t from their biological and ge-netic resources in the develop-ment of products, compounds and substances that have me-dicinal, industrial, agricul-tural and related applications

Equally important is the task

to protect such resources from biopiracy in the midst of un-regulated use

Toward this end, the

ASEAN Framework Agreement

on Access to, and Fair and table Sharing of Benefi ts Arising

Equi-From the Utilization of ical and Genetic Resource was

Biolog-completed in 2004 Aimed

at facilitating coordinated tions by the ASEAN Member States, the Framework Agree-ment supports national poli-cies and regulations on access and benefi t sharing (ABS), providing a level playing fi eld for all member states wishing

ac-to control the exploitation of their biological and genetic resources It also recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge of indigenous peo-

ples and local communities to ensure that the use of biologi-cal and genetic resources and equitable sharing of benefi ts are consistent with the prin-ciple of prior and informed consent As far as indigenous people’s (IP) communities are concerned, there should

be fair and equitable sharing where traditional knowledge

is utilized

“The ASEAN Framework Agreement, together with the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair

and Equitable Sharing of the

Benefi t Arising out of their

Utilization, provides clear

directions to ASEAN

Mem-ber States in developing their

ABS protocols, but

stakehold-ers need to be more involved

in discussions and capacity

building initiatives Through

these initiatives, countries

could fully understand how

to negotiate ABS terms with

users and providers of

biologi-cal and genetic resources and

ensure that the local

commu-nities gain from these benefi ts

and translate these into

con-servation actions,” said

Direc-tor Fuentes

The Framework

Agree-ment has not been adopted

because of varying degrees of

developments in each ASEAN

Member State, which include

differences in population,

terri-tories, development, economy,

history and government

Sev-eral provisions in the

Frame-work Agreement have yet to

be discussed more thoroughly

and agreed upon by the

coun-tries Added to this is the lack

of awareness and appreciation

on the values of biodiversity

and on the critical roles of

eco-charges of bio-piracy, tual property rights, and un-clear regulatory frameworks

intellec-on ABS

ABS action in the ASEAN

The CBD recognizes the sovereign rights of countries over their biodiversity re-sources in areas within their jurisdiction Parties to the CBD have the obligation to take appropriate measures aimed at sharing the benefi ts derived from their use

Malaysia Malaysia is

one of the ASEAN pioneers that initiated an institutional framework on ABS, with Sar-awak as the fi rst State that passed its ABS Law in 1997

The law was amended in

2003 to establish the Sarawak Biodiversity Council and the Sarawak Biodiversity Cen-tre With the establishment

of these bodies, the Sarawak Biodiversity Regulation was enacted a year later, applicable

to local and foreign als and institutions

individu-With the establishment

of the Centre, a tation program was devel-oped wherein the traditional

documen-knowledge of local indigenous communities of Sabah are preserved through proper recording or documenting techniques The program also aims to discover chemicals and enzymes from biological resources that would be useful

as industrial-related products such as essential oils, bio-pes-ticides and commercial dyes.Malaysia has developed the Research Permit System and Research Agreement that provides guidelines for the evaluation of proposals for those applying for permits to conduct research on biologi-cal resources The agreement states that research specimens and data be deposited at the Centre, together with a report that includes provisions on the sharing of benefi ts from the ethno-biological research with the Sarawak Biodiversity Council/State Government and with indigenous commu-nities

A permit is required for any research to be conducted

by academicians on biological resources whether taxonomic

or experimental, especially in the collection of specimens

system services Most member states also lack the capacity to implement ABS

ABS issues and challenges in the ASEAN

The ASEAN faces eral issues and constraints in the implementation of ABS

sev-Uniformed sharing of efi ts is not feasible because of the varying costs of products and research inputs There are also varying degrees of product time and cycles, eco-nomic value of products, and the extent of contribution of traditional knowledge related

ben-to genetic resources used in

fi nal products

The challenge, tor Fuentes explained, is to estimate the extent and type

Direc-of benefi ts to be shared that cover the interests of the dif-ferent stakeholders For users and providers, there is the is-sue on genetic resources and related knowledge found in parallel in different countries, and cross border common re-sources On the other hand, the issues of user countries include fi nding the appropri-ate level of monetary benefi ts,

Photo by Leslie Ann Jose-Castillo

IP children in Lao PDR

The Sarawak Forest

Depart-ment issues the permits for

access to biological resources

whether for medicinal,

phar-maceutical or commercial

uses as defi ned in the Sarawak

Biodiversity Regulation An

export permit is also required

if research is done outside

Sarawak The indigenous

community whose traditional

knowledge is used for the

pur-pose should be compensated

A benefi t-sharing scheme

is provided in the Traditional

Knowledge and Indigenous

and Local Community Rights

under the Sarawak

Biodi-versity Regulation 2004 and

SBC Research Agreement

Payment is given to

indig-enous peoples as reward for

traditional knowledge (TK)

or information provided If

the TK leads to the

develop-ment of products (medicinal,

pharmaceutical, health or

nu-tritional), intellectual

prop-erty rights should be shared

with the indigenous

com-munity that provides the TK

or adequate compensation in

monetary value and/or

ben-efi ts arising from them

Philippines In 1995,

the Government of the ippines issued Executive Or-der 247 that prescribes the guidelines and procedures for the bioprospecting (re-search, collection and use of resources) of biological and genetic resources for scientifi c and/or commercial purposes

Phil-The guidelines contain sions on Prior and Informed Consent (PIC) of indigenous and other local communities

provi-as custodians of the resources

or knowledge where these are located

The tedious process volved before agreements are

in-fi nally approved was tioned by applicants Some local scientists and research-ers have found this regulation too demanding and a barrier

ques-to research and development

Thus, in 2001, ing procedures were revised with the passage of the Wild-life Resources Conservation and Protection Act The Act redefi ned bioprospecting

bioprospect-as “research, collection and utilization of biological and genetic resources for the pur-

pose of applying knowledge derived solely for commercial purposes” The procedure has likewise been streamlined and now includes a more reason-able period for approval

For scientifi c research tivities, separate procedures have been made more simple and practical The draft im-plementing guidelines cover ABS system, quota for the collection of specimens, de-termination of the amount of performance, ecological and rehabilitation bond, and the monitoring scheme

ac-The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, which recognizes and promotes the rights of the country’s indigenous peoples within the framework of na-tional unity and development, protects their intellectual property rights as it relates to species of plants and animals

The Act recognizes their tlement to the full ownership and control and protection of their cultural and intellectual rights in particular human and other genetic resources, seeds, including derivatives

enti-of these resources, traditional medicines and health prac-tices, vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals, indig-enous knowledge systems and practices, knowledge of the properties of fauna and fl ora, and oral traditions, among others

Department of ment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Or-der No 2 of 1993 (Rules and Regulations for the Identifi ca-tion, Delineation and Recog-nition of Ancestral Land and Domain Claims), laid down the basic policy on indige-nous communities in relation

Environ-to traditional knowledge and practices in their ancestral do-main, which usually includes areas declared by the govern-ment as protected areas or national parks Indigenous communities are to exercise general supervision and con-trol over the management

of their ancestral domains including resources found therein The Council of El-ders in the community is the decision-making and manag-ing body

Members of the Aeta tribe from the Philippines

In the Philippines, no

government programs under

the control of the DENR are

to be implemented within

any ancestral domain

with-out the written consent of

the indigenous cultural

com-munity concerned, signed

in its behalf by a majority of

its recognized leaders Any

program or activity should

include indigenous

com-munity participation in the

protection, conservation,

de-velopment and exploitation

of natural resources in the

area; protection and

main-tenance of indigenous

com-munity rights over livelihood

resources; and provision of

supplemental source of

liveli-hood, among others

The DENR rules and

reg-ulations also require the

prep-aration of a comprehensive

ancestral domain

manage-ment plan by each indigenous

community that includes the

documentation of indigenous

land use and tenurial system

(customary laws, beliefs and

traditional practices)

Viet Nam The

Biodi-versity Law of Viet Nam is

expected to complement

re-lated laws such as the Law on

Environmental Protection,

Fisheries Law, Law on Land,

and Law on Forest Protection

and Development Chapter

5 of the Law specifi cally

pro-vides for the conservation and

sustainable development of

genetic resources The chapter

has three sections with several

protective measures to

sup-port the livelihoods of people

who depend on natural

re-sources and biodiversity The

Law also proposes benefi ts

for custodians of traditional

Section 1 provides for the

management and access to

genetic resources and

shar-ing of benefi ts from genetic resources Section 2 outlines the measures for the storage and preservation of genetic specimens, assessment of genetic resources, and man-agement of information on genetic resources, and tradi-tional knowledge copyrights

on genetic resources Section

3 provides guides in ing risks caused to biodiver-sity by genetically modifi ed organisms and genetic speci-mens of genetically modifi ed organisms

manag-Way forward

According to Director Fuentes, the registration pro-cess for indigenous knowledge may be feasible for scientists and people from the cities but not for indigenous people The complicated process makes it more diffi cult for indigenous peoples considering their lack

of knowledge, fi nancial sources, and language diffi cul-ties In this light, several mea-sures are needed to protect the interests of indigenous peoples

re-in particular their traditional knowledge

Financial resources should

be provided to fully document and propagate indigenous

knowledge for registration and to carry out this activ-ity at the local level (towns, cities, provinces) More im-portantly, indigenous people and other local communi-ties must be encouraged to conserve and continue the use of ethnomedicinal plants for community healthcare If ethnomedicinal plants are not used, indigenous knowledge will be lost especially if docu-mentation has not been done

on their uses There is also the need to strengthen awareness and knowledge on Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights

To assist the ASEAN Member States in meeting these needs and help them implement the Bonn Guide-lines in a harmonized man-ner, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity has given top priority to capacity building

The ASEAN Regional shop on Access and Benefi t Sharing of Genetic Resources and their Uses recently held

Work-in Cambodia provided the opportunity for member countries to discuss the status

of ABS activities and issues on traditional knowledge associ-ated with genetic resources

The COP10 held in Nagoya in October 2010 bore positive steps toward access and benefi t sharing for the world’s biodiversity-rich countries, including the ASEAN Member States The Parties to the CBD adopted the Nagoya Protocol on Ac-cess to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing

of Benefi ts Arising from their Utilization to the Convention

on Biological Diversity The Secretary-General of the UN will be the Depository of the Protocol and will open it for signature at the UN Head-quarters in New York from February 2, 2011 to February

1, 2012

With this recent ment, and the ASEAN Mem-ber States’ recognition of the importance of access and benefi t sharing to the overall conservation and sustain-able management efforts, the ASEAN countries are on their way to reaping the benefi ts from biodiversity !

develop-!Rolando A Inciong

is head of communication and public affairs at the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

Photo courtesy of the Viet Nam Enviroment Administration

Viet Nam’s Ha Long Bay

! By LESLIE ANN JOSE-CASTILLO

to modern society, E.O Wilson once said, “Now when you cut

a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing

a lot of big trees and a few birds fl uttering around in the canopy

You are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you The number of these species may go to tens of thousands Many of them are still unknown to science, and science has not yet discovered the key role undoubtedly played in the maintenance of that ecosystem, as in the case of fungi, microorganisms, and many of the insects.”

BIODIVERSITY

BEYOND 2010

ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook

“Unfortunately, this

fun-damental lesson on the web

of life still escapes many of us

We exploit the earth’s bounty

with absolute disregard to

ecological balance, acting as

if biodiversity is an infi nite

resource solely designed for

the human species to use It,

therefore, no longer comes

as a surprise that our global

biodiversity report card shows

our overall failure to meet the

2010 target of halting

biodi-versity loss,” Mr Rodrigo U

Fuentes, executive director of

the ASEAN Centre for diversity (ACB), said in his preface for the ASEAN Biodi-versity Outlook (ABO)

Bio-Produced by the ACB, the ABO confi rms the fi ndings of the Third Global Biodiversity Outlook that the world failed

to meet the target of signifi cantly reducing biodiversity loss by 2010

-The ABO is based on the 4th National Reports of the ten ASEAN countries to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Fourth

Photo by Lee Chin Yong

A school of barracuda in Sipadan, Malaysia The ASEAN region’s rich marine resources are prime sources of livelihood for millions of people.

ASEAN State of the

Envi-ronment Report, the Global

Biodiversity Outlook, and

numerous other sources

Bio-diversity experts from a

num-ber of international

organiza-tions independently reviewed

the ABO

A contribution to the

International Year of

Bio-diversity 2010, the ABO is

envisioned as a tool to

gener-ate awareness on the status of

biodiversity in the region, the

obstacles faced by countries in

their efforts to conserve

bio-diversity, and the next steps

that have to be undertaken

The prospects of biodiversity

in the region beyond 2010

are likewise outlined in the

report

“This is a modest attempt

at responding to the

ques-tion of whether or not we as

a region met the 2010 target

Through the report, we tried

to capture and present the

progress made by the ASEAN

Member States in this global

effort With the region’s

well-recognized richness in

biologi-cal resources and its impact on

global environmental

sustain-ability, the ASEAN countries

saw it as imperative to come

up with an outlook focusing

on the region,” Fuentes said

One of the major

conclu-sions of the ABO is that the

ASEAN region, like the rest

of the world, is increasingly

losing its biodiversity within

various ecosystems – forest,

agro-ecosystems, peatlands,

freshwater, mangroves, coral

reefs and seagrass Among the

signifi cant facts and fi gures on

the various ecosystems were:

• The growing

popula-tion’s dependence on

timber, fuel wood, and

other forest products, as

well as the conversion of

forests into agricultural

and industrial lands, are

taking their toll on the

region’s forests Already,

Southeast Asian

coun-tries had lost a total of 555,587 square kilome-ters of forests between

1980 and 2007

• While the ASEAN region is gifted with immense mangrove resources, it nonethe-less suffers the high-est rates of mangrove losses in the world An area of 628 square ki-lometers of mangrove got stripped away each year throughout the last couple of decades

In 1980, the estimated regional total mangrove area was 63,850 square kilometers As of 2005, this whittled down to 46,971 square kilome-ters for an aggregate decline of about 26 per-cent within a 25-year period

• There has been a general decline in coral reefs in the ASEAN region be-tween 1994 and 2008

Although the region hosts the largest coral reef areas in the world,

it also has the highest rate of loss, which today stands at 40 percent

• Bottom-trawling, tensive coastline de-

ex-struction and fication, decline in coastal water quality, and human-induced development have en-dangered seagrass beds

modi-in the ASEAN region

Indonesia, the pines, Singapore and Thailand have each ex-perienced from 30 up

Philip-to 50 per cent losses of seagrass habitats, com-pounded by the fact that the loss figures for other Southeast Asian countries remain large-

ly unknown

“The implications of versity loss to human well-be-ing can be profound, affecting not only human societies’ way

biodi-of life, but its very existence,

as well,” Fuentes warned He added that “No one will be spared from the impacts of biodiversity loss and the deg-radation of ecosystem services, but the fi rst one who will bear the heaviest burden will be the poor and marginalized whose lives are strongly linked with the environment.”

The ABO also scores that the drivers of biodiversity loss continue

under-to intensify The key ers of biodiversity loss in the

driv-ASEAN region include systems and habitat change, invasive alien species, over-exploitation (as a result of deforestation and land-use and water-use change, as well

eco-as wildlife hunting and trade for food), pollution, poverty and climate change

The ABO also sizes that the impacts of cli-mate change on biodiversity remains to be better under-stood A formidable chal-lenge, it reports, is enhancing the resilience of biodiversity components to adapt to cli-mate change

empha-In terms of addressing the drivers and threats to biodi-versity loss, the ABO points out that the ASEAN region remains slow in delivering progress, particularly in pre-venting invasive alien spe-cies, addressing the impact

of biodiversity to species and ecosystems, and abating pol-lution and the exploitation of forests and wetlands

In his foreword to the ABO, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN, said, “Concerted efforts, how-ever, have been made to ad-dress biodiversity loss at both the regional and national levels Innovative ecosystem-based approaches to address these challenges that have been implemented include the establishment of more protected areas, the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme, the Heart of Borneo Initia-tive, Coral Triangle Initiative, and the Greater Mekong Sub-region Biodiversity Conser-vation Corridors Initiative, all of which have attracted worldwide attention.”

One success story lighted in the ABO is the progress made by the region

high-in expandhigh-ing the coverage

of terrestrial and marine tected areas Since 1950, the designated protected areas have increased by 98 per cent

pro-Photo by Sai Kham Lynn

A summer paddy fi eld in Yangon Agriculture depends highly on biodiversity and the whole range of ecosystem services that it offers

When life forms essential to agriculture are destroyed, it will have catastrophic effects on agricultural production and the food security

of the global population.

Status and trends of the components of biological diversity

Trends in extent of selected

biomes, ecosystems and habitats State and condition are becoming serious, moving towards tipping points While efforts are being pursued to arrest declining trends in selected biomes, ecosystems and habitats,

actions taken are deemed insuffi cient as over-exploitation continues, coupled with the slow but manifesting effects of climate change.

Trends in abundance and

distribution of selected species Status remains an area of concern and declining trend of selected species and fragmentations of habitats remain unabated

Change in status of threatened

species The change in status is quite slow through the years and activities addressing these are inadequate Trends in genetic diversity of

domesticated animals, cultivated

plants and fi sh species of major

socio-economic importance

An emerging concern in the region especially with countries moving towards intensifi cation of agricultural production However, notable efforts are recorded for genetic improvement of native domesticated animals, and increasing genetic materials conserved

in gene banks for plants However, genetic diversity of fi sh species is still low and needs

to be addressed.

Coverage of protected areas State and conditions are improving with notable increases and expansion of protected

areas However, efforts need to be focused on enhancing management effectiveness and revisiting management objectives

Ecosystem integrity and ecosystem goods and services

Connectivity – fragmentation of

ecosystems State and condition of ecosystems are becoming a matter of concern for the region Fragmentation of ecosystems is increasingly associated with increase in development

activities in many of the region The biodiversity corridor approach has been applied in some key ecosystems but needs to be expanded and replicated in other key biodiversity areas.

Water quality of aquatic

ecosystems The state and condition of aquatic ecosystem are a matter of concern Freshwater eco-regions in Southeast Asia have manifested a declining water quality due to

fragmentation of habitats and use of agrochemicals in agricultural production areas such as in plantations Major rivers and some lakes in the region are silted due to soil erosion as a result of various activities taking place in upland areas and coastal areas Trend is likely to continue unless current efforts are stepped up and undertaken in a strategic manner

Nitrogen deposition Actual measurement of nitrogen deposition in a number of critical water bodies has not

been uniform and consistent Anecdotal evidence based on increasing reports of signs

of water body eutrophication such as algal blooms have been noted especially in water bodies fed by agricultural areas There is a need for comprehensive monitoring of this incidence in the region

Trends in invasive alien species

(IAS) Status and condition are not very much known due to limited information As such, it is an emerging concern in the region Although notable initiatives in IAS especially in the

Mekong Subregion and some other ASEAN Member States are pursued, these efforts are deemed insuffi cient given the potential magnitude of impacts of these species The absence of monitoring protocol adds to the seriousness of the issue

Sustainable use

Area of forest, agricultural and

aquaculture ecosystems under

sustainable management

Related to the condition of agroecosystems where there is an emerging concern over the impacts of intensive and extensive agriculture On a positive note, trend in conservation agriculture, sustainable agriculture, sustainable forest management, organic farming and the like are catching on in the region However, the area coverage of these types of land uses is still insignifi cant to make an impact.

Status of traditional knowledge, innovations and practice

Status and trends of linguistic

diversity and numbers of

speakers of indigenous

languages

The region is known for its cultural diversity, maintaining its social and cultural rich heritage Multiple languages are spoken in the region including the preservation of ethnic languages Countries are taking efforts to preserve the language diversity especially those spoken by ethnic communities

Summary of progress in achieving the headline indicators under the 2010 Biodiversity Target in ASEAN

State and condition are considered to be good but require efforts to maintain or expand them.

State and condition are emerging to be concerns and need attention.

State and condition considered to be critical and needing utmost attention.

Trend is increasing, taking into account the positive (negative) infl uence of initiatives to address the situation over the period

Trend is declining, taking into account the positive (negative) infl uence pursued to address the concern over the period.

No change in the trend over the period assessed in spite of the efforts pursued

NB: Indicators such as Marine Trophic Index under ecosystem integrity and ecosystem goods and services were not included in the assessment due

to lack of information.

by area and by 89 per cent by

number The ASEAN region

also met the suggested

tar-get of having 10 per cent of

its terrestrial land declared as

Status of access and benefi t sharing

Indicator of access and benefi

t-sharing to be developed One indicator may be the development of national ABS framework Capacity building activities to this end have been conducted among ASEAN Member States including

consultations on the proposed International Regime on ABS.

Status of resources transfers

Offi cial development assistance

(ODA) provided in support of the

Convention

Although acknowledged as insuffi cient, ODA funds have been increasing in the region for thepast 5 to10 years in relation to compliance to CBD requirements

Summary of progress in achieving the headline indicators under the 2010 Biodiversity Target in ASEAN (continuation)

protected areas, having lished 13.2 per cent for such purpose Six ASEAN Mem-ber States have exceeded the

estab-10 per cent target The

coun-tries were also successful in shoring up efforts to further develop capacities and ex-pand the network of wildlife law enforcers

The ABO points out that these initiatives have to be sustained in the long term

“This requires sustained litical, technical, fi nancial and stakeholder engagement at all levels,” Fuentes said He stressed that the ASEAN re-gion, as with the entire global community, has to move for-ward in collectively achieving the Biodiversity Target be-yond 2010

po-The ABO presented the outlook for the ASEAN re-gion’s biodiversity:

• Terrestrial ecosystems – The region’s forest ecosystems and agro-ecosystems shall con-tinue to play the crucial role of providing eco-logical stability to the ASEAN countries and globally Both, how-ever, face numerous pressures Addressing the pressures on these two ecosystems is criti-cal for ASEAN It will entail taking multiple measures that should

be linked to enhancing the productivity from existing crop and pas-ture lands, reducing post-harvest losses, sustainable forest man-

Drivers of biodiversity loss

Temperature increase Variability in precipitation Sea level rise

Introduced to improve food production, aquarium industry Ballast water Climate Change

Hunting for bushmeat Over fi shing Wildlife trade Invasive Alien Species

Industrial waste Domestic waste Pollution

Agriculture Poverty

Direct Drivers of Biodiversity

Loss in Southeast Asia

Over-exploitation

Infrastructure and housing development High value crops

Livestock run-off Insecticide/fertilizer run-off – Under and/or unemployment

– Inadequate access to institutional support – Few resources, options and capacity to respond to economic shocks

Source: www.vulnerability-asia.uni-hannover.de/

agement and changing

excessive and wasteful

consumption

• Inland water ecosystems

– Inland water

ecosys-tems in the ASEAN

region are considered

to be high value areas

These cover wetlands,

peatlands and

freshwa-ter bodies

Unfortu-nately, these ecosystem

functions are often

undervalued,

conse-quently placing the rich

biodiversity resources

in these areas at

immi-nent risk As many of

these areas are the initial

frontiers for conversion

for development

expan-sion, there will be an

increasing need for an

integrated management

of the ecosystems By

approaching the

devel-opment of these areas in

such a manner, the

po-tential negative impacts

from competing

pres-sures can be minimized

or averted

• Marine and coastal

eco-systems – Marine and

coastal ecosystems are

considered as one of the

most valuable natural

assets of the ASEAN region They, however, are faced with multiple pressures that may af-fect their ability to sup-ply food, functional buffer zones for natural weather disturbances, and livelihood for com-munities There is an urgent need to promul-gate policies that allow marshes, mangroves and other coastal eco-systems to persist and even migrate inland to make these ecosystems more resilient to the impact of sea level rise, and thus help protect the vital services they provide

According to Fuentes, the ASEAN Member States have

to exert greater effort to inch their way toward achieving the biodiversity targets set for the region The ABO lists a number of ways forward that have to be explored in order

to meet the targets These include targeting efforts to critical areas and ecosystems;

mainstreaming biodiversity

in the national development process; connecting biodiver-sity management with climate

change efforts; taking pride

on the current efforts and building on them for design-ing future efforts; and sup-porting efforts that will lead

to the adoption of the access and benefi t-sharing regime in the region

To move forward, the ABO recommended that in developing the strategic plan for biodiversity, the actions that will be identifi ed must address both the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss It also underscored that effi ciency in the use of a natu-ral resource must be balanced with the need to maintain ecosystem functions and re-silience Other recommenda-tions include:

• Where multiple ers are combining to weaken ecosystems, ag-gressive action to reduce those more amenable to rapid intervention can

driv-be prioritized, while longer-term efforts con-tinue to moderate more intractable drivers, such

as climate change and ocean acidifi cation

• Avoid unnecessary eoffs resulting from maximizing one eco-

trad-system service at the expense of another

• Continue direct action

to conserve biodiversity, targeting vulnerable and culturally-valued species and habitats, and criti-cal sites for biodiversity, combined with priority actions to safeguard key ecosystem services, par-ticularly those of impor-tance to the poor such

as the provision of food and medicines

• Take full advantage of opportunities to con-tribute to climate change mitigation through the conservation and restora-tion of forests, peatlands, wetlands and other eco-systems that capture and store large amounts of carbon

• Use national programs

or legislation to create a favorable environment

to support effective tom-up” initiatives led

“bot-by communities, local authorities, or business-

es This also includes empowering indigenous peoples and local com-munities to take respon-sibility for biodiversity management and deci-sion-making

• Strengthen efforts to better communicate the links among biodiversity, ecosystems services, pov-erty alleviation and cli-mate change adaptation and mitigation through education and the more effective dissemination

of scientifi c knowledge

“Addressing biodiversity loss is a shared responsibility for all humanity While it is recognized that the challenges are daunting, involving fore-most a major shift in percep-tion and priorities in societies’ current lifestyles, it is an im-perative shift to carry out the actions identifi ed in the ABO

Photo by Harazek

Wetlands are among the most biologically productive natural ecosystems

Marine and Terrestrial Protected Area Gap Analyses in the ASEAN Region

18 October 2010, 13:15 – 14:45 Room 210, 1st Floor, Building 2, Nagoya Congress Center

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) promoted greater awareness for the need to conserve Southeast Asia’s rich and pristine terrestrial and coastal and marine environment through a side event it conducted during the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biologi-cal Diversity (COP10) on October 18, 2010 at the Nagoya Congress Center in Japan

The “Marine and Terrestrial Protected Area Gap Analyses in the ASEAN Region” side event highlighted the results of the ter-restrial and marine protected areas gap analyses conducted in the ASEAN region The event also provided a venue where experts and protected area managers and practitioners shared insights on how to enhance the management of the region’s protected areas.The side event was attended by over 50 participants ACB Executive Director Rodrigo U Fuentes opened the event with

a presentation on the process of engaging the ASEAN ber States to implement gap analysis to both terrestrial and marine protected areas; the gap analysis methodology; and a summary of the results and analysis of the data presented He emphasized the importance of robust data sets and the value

Mem-of a good analysis such that all information ultimately tributes to biodiversity conservation The analysis indicated that despite a signifi cant number of ASEAN countries having complied with the CBD’s ten-per cent target, the area covered

con-by important ecosystems such as forests, seagrasses and groves in the region are on a steady decline

man-The presentations from Thailand, Indonesia and the ippines provided information on the conservation status of some protected areas in the region The countries articulated the ecosystem and management gaps Common among the presentations was the diffi culty of obtaining information for representation gaps due to the lack of capacity to collect and integrate georeferenced species-related information Of par-ticular interest was the presentation of the Philippines that based a majority of their results on the key biodiversity areas (KBAs) identifi ed in the country They noted that a signifi cant number of protected areas were outside of these KBAs Thailand emphasized management effectiveness assess-ment and the need to integrate protected areas into wider landscape and seascapes, including transboundary manage-ment of protected areas In-depth ecological studies, even outside of protected areas are needed In many countries, a number of Centers of Plant Diversity are outside of protected areas In Indonesia, for example, 30 percent of important bird areas (IBAs) are outside of designated protected areas The country presentations were followed by comments from two experts: Mr Joseph D’ Cruz, Regional Advisor – Environment, Bangkok Regional Centre, United Nations

Phil-ACB Side Events at COP10

at the necessary scale and

ad-dress the underlying causes

of biodiversity loss The

con-tinued failure to avert the

current trends of

biodiver-sity loss and the degradation

of ecosystems services is

sim-ply unacceptable We need

cogent and comprehensive

actions that will replace the

current business-as-usual

ef-fort for addressing the issues

This will require political

will and collective actions,”

Fuentes said

According to Dr Surin,

much more needs to be done

both by the Member States

individually and by the

ASEAN community

collec-tively, to put an end to the

deterioration of biological

resources “We need to

re-ex-amine our lifestyles and

con-sumption patterns to make

our choices more responsible

and environmental friendly

We need to assume a fair and

equitable share of burden

and responsibility as users

and providers of these

natu-ral resources We must exert

greater efforts in increasing

the awareness among the

people to protect these systems for future genera-tions, more so to ensure our own continued prosperity and survival,” the ASEAN Secretary-General said

eco-Dr Surin emphasized that the ASEAN Vision

2020 to achieve “a clean and green ASEAN with fully es-tablished mechanisms for sustainable development, and ensure that protection

of the region’s environment and natural resources are sustained as well as the high quality of life of its peoples”

is clear on ASEAN’s ment to biodiversity conser-vation

commit-“As we in the region tinue to realize this vision through various programs and projects, we need all the commitment and dedication

con-we can get to face the ing challenges through inter-national collaboration,” he concluded !

daunt-!Leslie Ann Jose-Castillo is

a development tion specialist at the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

communica-Photo by Ariebasuki

Protecting natural resources helps ensure that future generations

will continue to benefi t from the bounty of biodiversity

Development Programme; and Ms Cristi Marie Nozawa,

Re-gional Director, BirdLife International (Asia)

The open forum that followed emphasized that there

should be focus beyond national boundaries to address

trans-boundary issues, e.g., approaching the issues on a regional or

sub-regional scale, particularly on marine conservation Issues

were raised on expansion of protected areas versus effectively

managing existing protected areas How to convey these

mes-sages to policy makers also poses a challenge

The participants agreed that linking fi sheries to economic

issues is crucial The perception on protected areas as no-take

zones must be broken and to do this, various sectoral agencies

and communities must work together, e.g., social engagement

in protected areas or in community conserve areas

A critical management feature, in some cases, involves

partnership with local authorities – how their local authorities

and community efforts contribute to the larger conservation

and sustainable use goals To ‘fi ll the management gaps’ would

require consolidating national efforts through various

agen-cies involved, including local communities, private sector and

the local authorities

Director Fuentes said ACB will continue to support ASEAN

Member States to address representation gaps in refi ning gap

as-sessment methodology and undertake capacity development

ini-tiatives to assess conservation needs at species level versus

protect-ed area coverage He addprotect-ed that ACB will continue to conduct

regional data analyses and disseminate best practices in protected

area designations !

Communicating Biodiversity

in the ASEAN Region

19 October 2010, 13:15 – 15:00

First Floor of Building 2, Nagoya Congress Center

The ASEAN region’s capacity to reduce biodiversity loss

is constrained by several roadblocks, including the dire lack

of awareness and knowledge on the values of biodiversity

Increased public and leadership awareness is needed to

cre-ate a groundswell that will catalyze all sectors of society to

promote the conservation and sustainable management of

biodiversity resources Communication, education,

pub-lic awareness (CEPA) and media play a crucial role in this

challenge Communicating biodiversity is a daunting task

While successes have been achieved on some fronts, a lot

of communication gaps still need to be fi lled These were

emphasized during a side event conducted by the ASEAN

Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) during the 10th Meeting of

the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on

Bio-logical Diversity (CBD COP10) on October 19, 2010 at the

Nagoya Congress Center in Japan

The “Communicating Biodiversity in the ASEAN Region”

side event featured a number of successful CEPA initiatives from

the ASEAN Member States ACB shared how some organizations

and individuals teach others about biodiversity conservation by

employing a range of techniques Among these communication

projects are Sahabat Alam from Indonesia, Dalaw-Turo from the

Philippines, and Team Seagrass from Singapore These pockets of

success stories were featured in hopes that people will learn from the strategies used by the project implementers

ACB also launched the ASEAN Champions of sity – the fi rst awards program to recognize outstanding biodi-versity conservation projects by business, youth and media in the ASEAN region

ACB launched the initial version of the ASEAN sity Outlook The Outlook offers a regional barometer of the progress made by the ASEAN Member States towards achiev-ing the 2010 biodiversity target A timely contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity, the Outlook features the status and trends across all ecosystems and looks into the pres-sures faced by each ecosystem, as well as the responses initiated

Biodiver-to address these pressures It likewise presents a snapshot of some of the actions by ASEAN nations in combating the loss

of biodiversity The prospects of biodiversity in the region yond 2010 are outlined in the report

be-ACB also took the participants to a most exciting trip to

28 of the ASEAN region’s most wonderful natural destinations with the launch of the book “The ASEAN Heritage Parks: A Journey to the Natural Wonders of Southeast Asia.” As Secre-tariat of the ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHP) Programme, ACB produced the book so that people may understand the signifi -cance of AHPs to regional and global biodiversity, cultural iden-tity, as well as the well-being of the people of the ASEAN region Stories on management activities and interrelationships between local communities and natural resources provide a picture of the human element that is crucial to protected area management.ASEAN Member States present at the launch (Brunei Da-russalam, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam) expressed their appreciation for the information shared by ACB through the two publications on the state of biodiversity and the wealth of natural resources in the region The Centre handed over to the CBD Secretariat and ASEAN Member States copies of the two publications !

ACB Executive Director Mr Rodrigo U Fuentes (right) turns over

a copy of the book “The ASEAN Heritage Parks: A Journey to the Natural Wonders of Southeast Asia” to CBD Executive Secretary

Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf.

“At fi rst, fl ood waters

reached only our front fence

Succeeding fl oods reached

our house and occupied

al-most a quarter of our home’s

fi rst fl oor, causing diffi culties

for me and my family We

had to move our refrigerator,

tables and other equipment

and furniture to the second

fl oor Eventually, we had to

move out of our house

be-cause there was no electricity

and clean water,” Adeline

re-counts

The experience moved her

to question why catastrophes

happen After surfi ng the

In-ternet, she learned about the

relationship between global

warming and fl oods – as the

world is heating up, the sea

level is rising

In her research, Adeline

found that Southeast Asia

already is experiencing the

impacts of climate change It

was devastated by a spate of

typhoons, fl oods, cyclones,

heat waves, drought, and

oth-er calamities brought about by

extreme weather conditions

in recent years The Asian

Development Bank’s The

Eco-nomics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Re- view confi rms this, reporting

that the sea level is rising one

to three millimeters annually, and average temperature rose 0.1 to 0.3 degrees Celsius be-tween 1951 and 2000 In the report, Indonesia was identi-

hearing news of fl ooding in her native country, Indonesia For most kids,

a fl ood means they can skip classes and play in fl ood waters with their

friends But when fl ood ravaged Adeline’s home, things changed.

“What can I do to help my own community?”

Founding Sahabat Alam

Curiosity and the sion to help led the then 12-year-old Adeline to continue researching about ways she can support her community After learning about the im-portance of mangroves in preventing fl oods and other natural disasters, she invited

pas-150 friends and classmates to plant 200 mangrove saplings

at Wisata Angke Kapuk ing a long school holiday She briefed her fellow teenagers about the key role that mangroves play in pro-viding significant flood pro-tection in low coastal areas With massive root systems, mangrove forests serve as buffer zones These ecosys-tems regulate the impact

dur-of strong storm surges to

coastal communities by

ab-sorbing the energy of strong

waves and wind Mangroves

also serve as carbon sinks

that mitigate pollution The

roots also attract marine

spe-cies that may be harvested,

sold or consumed by local

inhabitants

Adeline learned that

man-grove forests are one of the

world’s most threatened

trop-ical ecosystems Despite the

direct and indirect

provision-ing and regulatprovision-ing services

from mangrove ecosystems,

their degradation and

conver-sion to less ecologically sound

uses continue on a widespread

scale There is an urgent need

to take action that will better

protect mangrove ecosystems

Taking action is exactly what

Adeline and her friends are

doing

Apart from planting

man-groves, Adeline and her group

visited Suaka Margasatwa

Muara Angke, a conservation

area located in North Jakarta

There, they saw important

species such as the long-tailed

macaque (Macaca

fascicu-laris), gold-ringed cat snake

(Boiga dendrophilia) and

wa-ter monitor They also learned

about 91 species of birds

found in Suaka Margasatwa

For them, it was a fun activity

that turned into a memorable

learning experience

That day, July 6, 2008, Adeline formed Sahabat Alam

or Friends of Nature with her

150 friends and classmates as initial members

Today, Sahabat Alam is

a well-known tal education program with almost 2,000 members – an extraordinary feat for a young organization Adeline uses the program as a tool to gener-ate awareness of biodiversity conservation through school seminars, events, talk shows,

environmen-fi lms and various activities to encourage young people to do something for the environ-ment

“Indonesia is a verse country We are rich

mega-di-in mammals, reptiles, birds and plants, but people do not know what biodiversity

or Keanekaragaman hayati

is We don’t have any classes

or school activities about the environment or biodiver-sity Most of my friends and teachers have not heard the word biodiversity This is how

my interest in biodiversity conservation began,” Adeline shares

Conservation activities

Apart from planting groves, Adeline and Sahabat Alam conduct other activities that provide young people

man-the opportunity to ence conservation fi rst-hand

experi-In October 2008, the group visited a conservation area for hawksbill turtles (known as penyu sisik in Indonesia) in Balai Taman Nasional Kepal-auan Seribu They helped free the turtles into their natural habitat

“In the conservation area, turtle eggs are incubated Af-ter reaching 36 months, the turtles are released into the ocean By freeing the turtles,

we hope that their population will increase,” Adeline said

Apart from freeing penyu sisik, Adeline also reminds members of Sahabat Alam not to pollute the ocean as the dirty environment will affect the turtles and many other species

In celebrating World vironment Day on June 5,

En-2009 and the World Sea Day

on June 8, 2009, Sahabat Alam joined other organiza-tions such as Yayasan KEHA-

TI, Yayasan Terumbu Karang Indonesia, Teens Go Green, Ciliwung Merdeka, Joint So-ciety for Nature and other groups for an environmental activity at the Ciliwung River

in Bogor Apart from ing river trash, the groups held a river expedition and a story-telling session about the importance of maintaining

gather-the river’s cleanliness They also launched a “no styro-foam” campaign that aims

to reduce trash being thrown into seas and rivers

Related to this project

is a coral reef conservation initiative at the Indonesian Thousand Islands of Pulau Pramuka Adeline brought together children to educate them about the importance

of conserving marine versity Members of Sahabat Alam were involved in plant-ing coral reefs to provide homes to many species of fi sh and to encourage ecotourism

biodi-To curb pollution, line also advocates the in-creased use of bicycles among her friends Leading by ex-ample, Sahabat Alam mem-bers join Indonesia’s quar-terly Hari Bebas Kendaraan Bermotor or Car Free Day

Ade-“By riding bicycles instead

of cars, we help decrease the percentage of pollutants re-leased into the environment When you bring down pol-lution, you help curb climate change Riding a bicycle also promotes health and well-be-ing,” the young conservation advocate explains

Sahabat Alam also bridges the information gap between experts and young people Regular teach-and-learn ac-tivities are conducted to advo-

Cover photo of the book “Our Earth” featuring Adeline Adeline with UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner A clean-up activity initiated by Sahabat Alam

cate conservation to primary,

secondary and university

students During the

Interna-tional Day for Biodiversity in

2009, Sahabat Alam gathered

over 350 students and

intro-duced them to biodiversity

and invasive alien species The

group invited experts such as

Ms Rina Kusuma of Yayasan

KEHATI and Dr Rajimun

Mushlihudin of Indonesia’s

Ministry of Environment as

resource persons An ecotour

and a fi lm showing were also

part of the activity

Adeline and her friends

also operate the Electric

Gen-erator Water Reel project

where they connect remote

villages to an electric grid,

providing potential economic

growth to villagers and

im-proving health and education

facilities They utilize clean

renewable energy to provide

electricity to villages

Recognition

Adeline’s many

contribu-tions to environmental

con-servation have not gone

unno-ticed Her long list of awards

include the 2009 Youth

Bio-diversity Award from Yayasan

KEHATI, the 2009

Interna-tional Young Eco Hero from

the United States’ Action for

Nature, the Indonesian

ogy 2009 “Realize Our

Ecol-ogy and Make it as Our

Life-style” from the Agriculture

Institute of Bogor, and the

2010 Energy Globe Award’s World Award for Sustainabil-ity She was also nominated

in the Youth Category of the ASEAN Champions of Biodi-versity These are in addition

to her awards from joining essay writing, art and math-ematics competitions All of her winnings are donated to Sahabat Alam

Adeline represented nesia in the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2009 Tunza Interna-tional Children’s Conference

Indo-in Korea, the Brazilian MIndo-inis-try of Education and Ministry

Minis-of Environment’s 2010 dren and Youth International Conference “Let’s Take Care

Chil-of the Environment,” the United States’ Teen Climate Leaders Trained by Al Gore, and Indonesia’s 24th Caretak-

er of the Environment national She was also a del-egate at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties

Inter-to the Convention on ical Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010 and the Climate Change Confer-ence in Cancun, Mexico in December 2010

Biolog-Young people can

be eco-heroes too

For Adeline, being young

is not a hindrance to saving biodiversity

“At fi rst, I thought, I’m only a young student What can I possibly do to help?

Then I realized that I can help bring together young people and adults through various environmental ac-tions Initially, I invited only

my friends to join the ment By word of mouth, more young people heard about Sahabat Alam and started joining our activities

move-Now, we even have university students in our group,” Ade-line shares

The group targets to reach 10,000 schools and

300 universities throughout Indonesia, as well as those

in other ASEAN countries and eventually the rest of the world

“I want to encourage

oth-er youth leadoth-ers worldwide to initiate similar environmental actions,” Adeline says

Asked whether her many environmental projects get

in the way of her regular youth activities like hanging out in shopping malls, Ade-line says, “By having many environment activities with children, I have the opportu-nity to hang out with them

I am happy and excited that

I am able to involve them in worthy activities Young peo-ple should not always be in shopping malls or play com-puter games They should

also allocate time for other activities.”

Supporting a young environmentalist

Adeline credits her success

to the fi rm support that she receives from her parents, sib-lings, relatives, schoolmates, teachers and community

“My parents always advise me and my sisters to do what we really want to do They sup-port my ideas and actions They give suggestions for my environmental advocacy and support me fi nancially My friends support me by bring-ing their friends to take part

in our many activities,” she shares

Her elder sister Aldilla Stephanie, 19, supports Ade-line by hosting Sahabat Alam’s seminars Stephanie is also supporting her younger sister

in the event “Preserving tional Flora and Fauna” which involves over 1,500 partici-pants from 25 schools Averina Geffanie, Adeline’s 10-year-old sister, has also started joining Sahabat Alam’s projects

Na-Today, whenever there

is news of flooding, Adeline

is reminded of her advocacy

to do something to save the environment “I believe that the young generation can

be environmental heroes in their own communities,” she said !

Adeline and other Indonesian youth with Mr Al Gore at the Climate

Project Asia Pacifi c Summit dinner reception Freeing penyu sisik

FIRST ASEAN

TRIBAL OLYMPICS

Philippines dominated the fi rst ASEAN Tribal Olympics held from September 14 to 16, 2010

in the mountains of Nanuk Ragang, Ranao, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia with three golds, a silver, and four

bronzes The games were organized by the Philippine Olympic

Committee (POC), Philippine Soft Tennis Association,

Southeast Asian Soft Tennis Federation, Sabah Soft Tennis

Association of Malaysia and Partners for Community

Organizations (PACOS) with the support of the ASEAN

Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

A tribal athlete takes aim at the target board

The First ASEAN Tribal

Olympics is an offshoot of the

fi rst “POC-ACB

Mangyan-Aeta-Dumagat (MAD) Tribal

Games: Protecting Our

Natu-ral Heritage,” held in 2009

The games were initiated by

the Philippine Olympic

Com-mittee in partnership with

ACB to showcase how

indig-enous peoples (IPs) conserve

their natural environments

and generate a greater

aware-ness for biodiversity

conser-vation among the people of

the ASEAN region From

the Philippines, the Games

were brought to Malaysia to

highlight the signifi cance of

traditional knowledge in the

protection and conservation

of the ASEAN’s natural

heri-tage

The ASEAN Tribal

Games were held in

conjunc-tion with the Nunuk Ragang

World Indigenous Peoples’

Day Celebration in Kota

Kinabalu The Philippine

delegation was led by Col

Jeff Tamayo of the POC,

and was composed of POC

members, tribal athletes and

coaches, local government

support, and staff from the ACB They were warmly welcomed by members of PACOS, a community-based voluntary organization reg-istered under the Trustees Ordinance Chapter 148 in Sabah to help raise the qual-ity of life of the indigenous communities in Malaysia

PACOS is also connected with indigenous groups in Indonesia and Thailand

The Filipino athletes were composed of Jerry Manalo, Arnulfo Bernardo, Reynaldo Panagsagan, Ryan Pacifi co (Mangyan); June Ablong, Manalo Ablong, Dumlao Naval, Jimmy Ablong (Aeta);

and Marlon Luna and

Ricar-do Turgo (Dumagat)

The Mangyans, Aetas and Dumagats competed against the Kadazandusun and Murut tribes of Malaysia and other indigenous people from Indonesia The two-day competition featured the fol-lowing events: Tribal Archery, Tree Top Archery and Spear Throwing using the javelin, Blowpipe, and an Assault (ob-stacle) Course

A number of Filipino indigenous groups still keep their traditional sports alive, either through actual hunt-ing practices, by teaching them to the next generation,

or exhibit them during special events Many of their Malay-sian counterparts however, are

no longer familiar with spears

or bows and arrows, although some showed great profi cien-

cy with the blowpipe The Malaysian and Indonesian groups showed great interest

in the games and hoped to revive their own traditional sports activities

On the day of the petition, the athletes donned their traditional clothes and prepared themselves for a competitive, but fun, day of sports Families and children

com-of the local athletes converged and enjoyed watching their fathers and brothers in ac-tion The Filipino athletes dominated the events but also enjoyed the opportunity to introduce the various indig-enous sports to fellow IPs in ASEAN More than a com-petition, the ASEAN Tribal

Games was a chance to enjoy the camaraderie of being with fellow IPs, share experiences, celebrate traditional knowl-edge and practices, and revel

in the dignity of indigenous life

Tired but proud, the medalled Philippine team left Nanuk Ragang with the knowledge that they had suc-cessfully ignited interest in reviving traditional sports among indigenous commu-nities from Malaysia and In-donesia They hope that this interest would spread among other IPs in ASEAN and cre-ate a stronger community of indigenous groups in the re-gion

be-The Philippines will host the 2012 edition where the POC hopes to attract 80 dif-ferent tribes in the ASEAN region These Tribal Olympics will also serve as preparatory games to the international level competitions scheduled

in 2015 !

!Sahlee Bugna-Barrer is lications offi cer at the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

pub-The tribal games fostered camaraderie among

participating tribes. Organizers and participants of the tribal olympics

in the Western Pacifi c Ocean It is composed of more than 7,100 islands with an estimated land area of about 300,000 km² or 30 million hectares It has a coastline of about 33,900 km with an extensive marine area that includes coral reef systems that cover about 27,000 km² More than 80 per cent of the country’s population resides within 50 kilometers from the coastline and about 70 per cent of the 1,525 municipalities in the Philippines, including ten of the

country’s largest cities, are located along the coast (EMB, 1992).

The country’s coastal and

marine waters are endowed

with a wide array of coastal

and marine resources

includ-ing ecologically important

habitats such as coral reefs,

mangroves and sea grass beds

It lies totally within the Coral

Triangle, which is recognized

as having the highest coral

di-versity in the world The Verde

Island Passage Marine

Corri-dor, located within the

Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Eco-region

(SSME) and inside the

Philip-pine territory, has been

identi-fi ed by scientists as the “Center

of the Center of Marine

Shore-fi sh Diversity in the World”

These habitats are also the

source of food and

employ-ment for a majority of the

populace, primarily through

fi sheries and

tourism/eco-tour-ism These coastal and marine areas support fi sheries, which

is the source of livelihood and about half of the dietary pro-tein requirement of the Filipino people More than 80 per cent

of animal protein consumed by the rural coastal communities

of the country is derived from municipal waters fi sheries

Threats to coastal and marine environments

A large portion of the country’s coastal and ma-rine environments, including coral reefs, has unfortunately been subjected to tremendous damage, such as serious habi-tat/ecosystem degradation due

to efforts toward economic growth Among these are sedimentation and siltation from coastal development

activities, domestic and dustrial wastes, unsustainable resource use practices, such as overexploitation, population pressure, poverty, destructive

in-fi shing methods, over in-fi shing

(Gomez et al 1994), and other

detrimental factors

The country’s remaining mangrove forest area is less than 24 per cent, and between

30 per cent and 50 per cent of seagrass beds are already lost

(Fortes, 1994) Only about 4

per cent of the country’s coral cover is in excellent status, making the Philippines the

“hottest of the marine versity hotspots in the world”

rine ecosystems and the

con-cept of establishing marine

protected areas (MPAs) were

fi rst offi cially discussed during

the First World Conference on

National Parks held in Seattle,

USA in 1962 In truth, the

Philippines is quite advanced

in this endeavor with the

es-tablishment of the fi rst MPA

in 1940, the Hundred Islands

National Park This was later

followed by MPA designations

both at the local and national

government levels

To date, there are

approxi-mately more than 500 existing

MPAs of varying sizes in the

country (UPMSI database,

2007), including coastal parks,

which include a marine

eco-system component

The conservation of the

coastal and marine resources

in the country is being

sup-ported by various legislations,

including the following:

• Republic Act 7586,

Na-tional Integrated Protected

Areas System Act (NIPAS

Act, June 1992) This law

provides a country-wide

perspective for marine

biodiversity

conserva-tion and poverty It is the

controlling law with

re-spect to enacted national

parks and reserves to

protect areas with

natu-ral and unique biological

or physical diversities of

the environment,

nota-bly those with rare and astonishing biological features to sustain hu-man life and develop-ment, as well as animal and plant life Generally,

it seeks to ensure that the use and enjoyment

of such protected areas are consistent with the principles of biological diversity and sustain-able development To date, 30 areas have been proclaimed under the NIPAS Act, with coastal and marine com-ponents These MPAs are under the national control and supervision

of the Department of Environment and Natu-ral Resources (DENR) and are being managed through their respective

Protected Area ment Boards (PAMBs)

Manage-The Management Board

is a multi-sectoral body composed of representa-tives from various stake-holders of the MPA

• Republic Act 7160, Local

Government Code (LGC, June 1991) The Lo-

cal Government Code devolves basic powers

to municipalities, cities and provinces on coastal resource management, particularly within the 15-kilometer municipal waters These powers include enactment of lo-cal ordinances and law enforcement strategies, imposition of license fees, charges and rent-als, closed seasons, and the designation of fi sh

reserves, refuges and sanctuaries

• Republic Act No 8550,

Philippine Fisheries Code, 1998 The Fish-

eries Code comprises the country’s primary legislation for fi sheries and aquatic resources

It allocates the tional responsibilities over fi sheries between the national govern-ment and the cities and municipalities, through the legal concept of mu-nicipal waters extending from the shoreline up to

jurisdic-a mjurisdic-aximum of 15 meters away It mandates the setting aside of 15 per cent of municipal waters for fi sh sanctuaries and allows 25 to 40 percent

kilo-of fi shing grounds yond municipal waters for fi sh sanctuaries or mangrove reserves

Cele-of the Sulu and Celebes Seas (PCICDSCS) The Commission is com-

posed of representatives

from various national

government agencies and

civil society The

Com-mission approved the

Integrated Conservation

and Development Plan

(ICDP) and adopted the

Conservation Plan for

the Sulu-Sulawesi

Ma-rine Eco-region (SSME)

The Commission

over-sees the compliance of

the Philippines to the

SSM Eco-region

Con-servation Plan through

its Technical Working

Group

• Executive Order No 533

(June 2006) This

Execu-tive Order was issued by

adopting the Integrated

Coastal Management

(ICM) Policy as the

na-tional management

poli-cy framework to promote

the sustainable

develop-ment of the country’s

coastal and marine

envi-ronment and resources in

order to achieve food

se-curity, sustainable

liveli-hood, poverty alleviation

and reduction of

vulner-ability to natural hazards,

while preserving

Philippine marine protected areas

The establishment of rine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Ma-is the most accepted tion in coastal and marine areas aimed at habitat reha-

interven-bilitation This intervention provides a venue where the community is involved in a participatory manner and the responsibility of local gov-ernance in marine resources management is recognized In the Philippines, there are a va-riety of terms used specifi cally referring to a marine protected area, such as Marine Reserve, Marine Sanctuary, Fish Sanc-tuary, and Protected Seascape, among others However, these MPAs, when properly man-aged, serve the same purpose

of rehabilitating degraded habitats and eventually in-creasing fi shery yields

A Marine Protected Area,

as defi ned during the Third National Workshop on the Philippine Marine Sanctu-ary Strategy (PhilMarSast) in

2002, refers to “an area of the

sea established and set aside by law, administrative, regulation

or any other effective means, in order to conserve and protect

a part of or the entire enclosed environment, through the es- tablishment of management guidelines” It is a generic term

that includes all declared areas governed by specifi c rules and guidelines in order to protect and manage activities within

the enclosed area PhilMarSast targets 10 per cent of marine waters to be fully protected by

2020 in an MPA network.Under the NIPAS Act of

1992, 30 areas with marine components have been pro-claimed covering an area of about 15,000 km² Among these areas is the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and World Heritage Site in the Central Sulu Sea, covering 332 km² coral atoll in a no-take status that is well protected Cur-rently, there are more than

500 locally managed marine protected areas established na-tionwide, with various objec-tives and sizes

The Marine Protected Area Support Network

The need for collaborative efforts among various MPA practitioners and supporters nationwide to help improve MPA effectiveness led to the establishment of the MPA Support Network (MSN) It

is a multi-sectoral alliance of government and non-govern-ment organizations that aims

to support MPA initiatives through complementary col-laborative efforts at the local, regional and national level MSN aims to build on the Philippine Marine Sanctuary Strategy (PhilMarSaSt) and Philippine Coral Reef Infor-mation Network (PhilReefs)

to contribute to the ment of MPA management effectiveness and to achieve

improve-at least 10 per cent full tection of coastal areas by the year 2020 MSN aims to: de-velop an action agenda that supports local and regional adaptive management raining through its monitoring, evalu-ation, response and feedback system; facilitate the establish-ment of an incentive system for good MPA governance and performance through annual recognition awards; assist in

pro-fi nancial leveraging; and

advo-cate for better enabling

envi-ronments through policy and

legislative reforms

Part of MSN support is to

provide an incentive system

for the best-managed MPA

through annual recognition

awards and to document

pro-tocols of best practices in the

country In 2007, MSN

con-ducted an adaptive

manage-ment training, local forum

and MPA Congress as well

as recognition of outstanding

MPAs in the country There

were nine semifi nalists and the

top three were given, among

others, cash prizes

The Sulu- Sulawesi Marine

Eco-region (SSME)

The Sulu-Sulawesi is a

transborder marine eco-region

in the epicenter of global

ma-rine biodiversity This region

is being gravely threatened by

prevailing modes of

unsustain-able resource uses The

cur-rent conservation approaches

and initiatives are insuffi cient

to address threats that operate over a large scale Thus, inno-vations in conservation must

be adopted to abate threats and maintain and/or restore biodiversity in an eco-regional scale

Some 45 million people live within the eco-region, who derive most of their protein and income from the resources around them Moved by the common vision of the SSME and the commitment to make eco-region conservation work, the stakeholders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines have employed innovative mecha-nisms to overcome the con-straints of working together under highly dynamic political and sensitive cultural environ-ments

The signing of the randum of Understanding (MOU) in 2004 between the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines

Memo-on the adoptiMemo-on of the CMemo-on-servation Plan for the SSME

Con-Check out our website for information materials on

biodiversity conservation in ASEAN! The ASEAN Centre

for Biodiversity produces a number of public awareness

materials on biodiversity in the region, including the

quarterly newsmagazine ASEAN Biodiversity, as well

as profi les of ASEAN Heritage Parks and endangered

species

Proceedings on workshops organized by ACB

focusing on issues such as marine gap analysis,

multilateral environmental agreements, and business

and biodiversity, among others are already available

The Policy Brief Series focuses on ASEAN actions

Biodiversity information at your fi ngertips!

and recommendations on issues such as community conserved areas, ecotourism, and invasive alien species.Visitors can access the Biodiversity Information Sharing Service (BISS) to check species lists and protected area network data in ASEAN Links to biodiversity information in other ASEAN Member States can be accessed here as well.ACB has also produced videos on ACB and its work in ASEAN, as well as the values and the need to protect our treasured natural resources

For more information log on to www.aseanbiodiversity.org

indicates the sincerity of these countries to act jointly and

to talk in terms of managing shared resources instead of their overlapping boundar-ies The signing of the MOU also led the way for the estab-lishment of the Tri-National Committee, a mechanism that oversees the implementation of the Eco-region Conservation Plan (ECP) Consequently, the Tri-National Committee has formed the Sub-Committees

on Endangered, Charismatic and Migratory Species; Sus-tainable Fisheries, Aquaculture and Livelihood Systems; and Marine Protected Areas and Networks to facilitate the im-plementation of the ECP

Future perspectives

The Philippines’ future directions on coastal and ma-rine resources management are embodied on the fi ve-point agenda of the MSN: strength-ening coastal law enforcement and compliance mechanisms

within the Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) approach; sustaining MPA management through enhanced coordina-tion of MPA network syner-gies and highlight working MPA network models; insti-tutionalizing MPA incentives for good performance and in-creased adaptive management; improving cost effectiveness and equitable allocation of costs and benefi ts including governance, performance and impact evaluation; and devel-oping public-private partner-ships and linkages of actions at various management scales !

Dr Antonio C Manila is the Regional Technical Director for Forest Management Services of the Department of Environment and Natural Services, while

Ms Lynette T Laroya is Chief

of Resources Protection and Habitat Management Section, Biodiversity Management Division of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.

drive many wildlife species to extinction in the near future unless effective measures are implemented soon, including law enforcement, community participation, provision of alternative protein, and the establishment of simple and practical wildlife monitoring systems This was the warning made by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest

Resources Assessment 2010

Thai authorities conduct a raid at the JJ Market in Bangkok, Thailand. Photos courtesy of FREELAND Foundation