ACB showcases biodiversity conservation work in virtual exhibit
Welcome to the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity virtual booth!
The ASEAN region finds ways to defy limitations spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic to unite and celebrate significant strides. On 13 August, the 3rd EU-ASEAN Scholarship Day pushed through virtually, highlighting European Union’s (EU) development cooperation projects with the ASEAN and the many scholarship opportunities for ASEAN youth.
The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) took part in the exhibits mounted online at https://digirupa.com/booth-acb/ to engage the youth, national governments, private organisations, and other stakeholders on the various programmes and projects that the EU support in the ASEAN region.
ACB’s digital booth showcased its extensive work on biodiversity conservation. The virtual display highlighted the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme and the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in ASEAN (BCAMP) project –– an initiative of the ACB and the EU.
The digital booths may be accessed from 13 to 14 August.
EU Ambassador to the ASEAN, H.E. Mr. Igor Driesmans formally opened the event, reiterating the need for strong and meaningful cooperation between the ASEAN and the EU, especially in the time of the COVID-19 crisis.
“For EU, we have chosen the path of international cooperation to tackle this pandemic because we know that no one will be safe from the virus until the whole world is safe,” said Ambassador Driesmans.
The EU, one of the ASEAN’s active partners in development cooperation, has been extensively supporting programmes across the 10 ASEAN Member States (AMS).
Recently, funds have been allocated to support the healthcare systems and research efforts to tackle the ongoing pandemic. Mr. Driesmans announced the new development projects between the EU and ASEAN that will ‘support smart and sustainable urbanisation, sustainable forest management, and ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions.’
The EU has been a long-standing partner of the ACB, dating back to the Centre’s founding in 2005. Under the BCAMP project, the ACB and the EU are working towards significantly reducing biodiversity loss in the Region through the conservation and effective management of protected areas.
“Biodiversity provides us with various ecosystems services – food, water, air and even socio-cultural services,” said Nheden Amiel Sarne, ACB’s BCAMP project coordinator in his presentation about the BCAMP project. “Our communities rely on nature for subsistence, hence biodiversity conservation must be of everyone’s concern.”
Sarne also shared updates on the ASEAN Youth Biodiversity Programme (AYBP), an EU-supported collaboration under BCAMP. The said programme seeks to empower youth representatives from the AMS in engaging their respective national governments and encourage their involvement in the development of national strategies and action plans on biodiversity conservation.
“The EU and ASEAN share common goals and commitments of safeguarding the environment. As our ally, the EU has been supportive to the ASEAN Member States and the ACB in our work and programmes on biodiversity conservation,” remarked ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim.
“We congratulate the EU for the success of this event, and we look forward to our closer cooperation and an even more robust partnership in the years to come,” she said.
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