ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

UN Secretary-General appoints new CBD Executive Secretary

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on January 20 the appointment of Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, a national of Brazil, as Executive Secretary of...

Private sector to take active role in saving Indonesia’s natural heritage

Representatives from the private sector, non-government organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and the Governments of the United States and Indonesia have rolled out a set of comprehensive...

ASEAN policy makers to discuss economic and biodiversity sustainability

Manila Dialogue on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, January 25-26 ASEAN policy makers discuss economic and biodiversity sustainability Senior environment, finance and economic experts from Brunei,...

Fast action climate mitigation measures to reduce pollutants

(Washington, DC, January 12, 2012) – A new study in science has identified 14 fast action measures to reduce air pollutants that can deliver major...

Wanted: youth leaders for the seas of East Asia

The East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress 2012 Secretariat recently launched the Call for Youth applicants for the Third EAS Youth Forum to be held in...

UN iPhone app highlights role of ecosystems in tackling climate change

How many mangroves does it take to offset a transatlantic flight? What consumer actions can we take to reduce damage to rainforests? Answers to these...

New international action on climate change

(Durban, December 11) – Countries meeting in Durban, South Africa, have delivered a breakthrough on the future of the international community’s response to climate change,...

Philippines supports ACB sustainability

The Philippines, host country to the headquarters of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), continues to provide operational funding support to the Centre to ensure...

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DID YOU KNOW?

Fortunate is Southeast Asia, known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, as it cradles a treasure trove of plant and animal species. Despite occupying a meager three percent of the earth’s total surface, the ASEAN region is home to 20 percent of all known species of plants and animals, making it critically important to global environmental sustainability. The mountains, jungles, lakes, rivers, and seas of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam form one of the biggest biodiversity pools in the world. The region includes three mega-diverse countries (Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines); several bio-geographical units (e.g. Malesia, Wallacea, Sundaland, Indo-Burma, and the Central Indo-Pacific); and numerous centers of concentration of restricted-range bird, plant and insect species. Southeast Asia has one-third or 284,000 square kilometers of all coral reefs, which are among the most diverse in the world. Common land and water borders have allowed the ASEAN Member States to share many species that are biologically diverse from the rest of the world. Wednesday, 25 May 2011 22:47

Biodiversity is a source of livelihood to millions as the economy of many communities is driven by the use of species in industries such as biotechnology, forestry, agriculture, fisheries, ecotourism, and pharmaceuticals. Farmers derive their produce from the earth’s bounty. Communities benefit from the various jobs resulting from the presence of natural heritage sites. Workers in the billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry have steady sources of income because nature provides plants with medicinal value. In Southeast Asia, it is estimated that 80 percent of the income of the rural poor is derived from the local biodiversity. Wood remains the most common fuel throughout the region. In fact, much of the leap and development of the countries of ASEAN during the period of 1970 to 1990 is founded on the sale of commercial timber. People in Southeast Asia also earn from ecotourism, defined as “environmentally responsible travel and visitation to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature and for any accompanying cultural features that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local people.” Ecotourism provides alternative livelihoods, with local people standing first in line for employment in protected area management as guides, rangers, or staff. Other members of the local community may also earn from ecotourism by: providing lodging (renting out rooms or their homes; building inns and other accommodation facilities); renting out vehicles (cars, bicycles and motorcycles, boats); selling provisions (convenience or variety stores); cooking meals for travelers; selling local handicrafts and souvenirs; providing recreational activities in buffer zones; and presenting cultural performances Without nature’s riches, how would millions of people earn a living for their families? Wednesday, 25 May 2011 22:46

The natural world holds the key to a wide range of medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs. The use of plants and animals as sources of cure for various illnesses traces its roots to our forefathers who discovered the medicinal value of nature’s treasures. Plants have been known to many indigenous tribes for centuries for their medicinal value. Herbal and other natural remedies have preventative and therapeutic value. Wild plants, including those already known through traditional medicine, have yielded chemicals from which many existing prescription drugs are derived. About 80 percent of the world's known biodiversity, many of which have medicinal value, could be found in forests. If the world continues to lose around 13 million hectares of its forest cover every year, it would be difficult to develop better kinds of medicine to cure both existing and emerging illnesses. Wednesday, 25 May 2011 22:45


Live, interactive UN webcast: September 20,2011 The UN Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020 Philippines President Benigno S. Aquino III’s speech Philippine President launches UN Decade on Biodiversity for Southeast Asia	ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity announced

Access and Benefits Sharing

Ecotourism and Biodiversity Conservation

Agro-biodiversity and Biosafety

Global Taxonomic Initiative

ASEAN Heritage Parks and Protected Area Management

Invasive Alien Species

Biodiversity Information Management

Payment for Ecosystems Services

Business and Biodiversity

Peatland Management and Biodiversity

Climate Change and Biodiversity

Wildlife Law Enforcement

Publications

ASEAN Biodiversity Magazine New!

Volume 10, Number 2

Countries all over the world are celebrating 2011 as the International Year of Forests (Forests 2011). Launched on February 2, 2011 during the High-Level Segment of the Ninth Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) in New York, Forests 2011 was declared to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. The celebration, with the theme “Forests for People,” is serving as a global platform to celebrate people’s action to sustainably manage the world’s forests.

The book “The ASEAN Heritage Parks: A Journey to the Natural Wonders of Southeast Asia” is a publication of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) in collaboration with the ten ASEAN Member States – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

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The ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook

presents the status of biodiversity in Southeast Asia, challenges faced by ASEAN Member States in reducing biodiversity loss, success stories, ways forward, and future prospects for biodiversity in the region.

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Protected Areas Gap Analysis of the ASEAN Region New!

In Southeast Asia, almost a quarter (24 percent) of the total forest areas have been declared as protected areas, meeting the percentage area requirement of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Program of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA) of targeting at least 10 percent of ecologically significant terrestrial areas to be ecologically managed and protected by 2010. Closer analysis, however, reveals that 34 percent of the total Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) comprising 603,700 square kilometers remain unprotected, interpreted in this report as representation gaps. Sixteen percent of the areas are partially protected, representing ecological gaps.

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ASEAN Biodiversity Magazine New!

Volume 10, Number 1

Only a fraction of the world’s species have been identified owing to insufficient funding and a shortage of taxonomists, according to a Brazilian study. Scientists Fernando Carbayo and Antonio Marques from the University of Sao Paulo, writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, said only 1.4 million species have been catalogued, thus far. This leaves an estimated 5.4 million unknown to science. The duo estimated that it would take US$263 billion to catalogue the unknown species.

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ASEAN Biodiversity Magazine

Volume 9, Number 3

Nagoya, 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 five heads of state and 130 ministers of environment of an agreement on access and benefit sharing of the world’s rich but highly threatened biodiversity.

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ASEAN Biodiversity Magazine

Volume 9, Number 2

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), there are 5 to 30 million distinct species on Earth. Humankind’s prosperity and survival depends on benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems and the species living in them. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services.

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