ASEAN Press Statement for One Health Day, 3 November: Protected areas healing nature and people
By Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim
Executive Director, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity
As some of you may be aware, I, as well as the other participants coming from the Philippines, almost did not make it in time for this morning’s event. We all got stranded at the Manila International Airport the other night due to a severe tropical storm with such a large area coverage that it affected almost the entire Philippine archipelago. Such aberrant storms, we observe, are getting more and more frequent these days. Only last month, a super typhoon, with international name “Noru”, battered the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rains. It was the strongest typhoon hitting the Philippines this year, hoisting sustained wind speeds of 195 km per hour tagged with heavy rainfall affecting the whole of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. What was most interesting was what was caught on satellite— as soon as Typhoon Noru hit a protected area along the Philippines’ eastern seaboard — the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, including the southern portion of the entire mountain range, it was seen that the super typhoon weakened considerably. This is nature at work, a prime example of how ecosystems can contribute to climate action.
And nature as a solution is being demonstrated all over the ASEAN. In Indonesia, for instance, the Raja Ampat Marine conservation area is a group of islands known for its megadiverse marine life, and boasting of 75% of the total coral species in the world. It also has unique mangrove areas and is a host of important seagrass beds. It’s this ecosystem diversity—all of the coastal and marine habitats combined that would be most effective in moderating the impacts of strong waves and better deliver protection to coastal communities.
In fact, the Raja Ampat Islands Marine Conservation Area was recently conferred with the Blue Park Award by the Marine Conservation Institute at the 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, along with the Apo Reef Natural Park in the Philippines. The Blue Park Award recognises outstanding efforts in marine biodiversity conservation, and we cannot be more proud that the ASEAN has two awardees just this year. We commend these conservation areas for their designation as thriving emblems of the ASEAN region’s remarkable marine biodiversity.
But it is not just in facing the worsening impacts of climate change that healthy protected areas can have valuable contributions. Our ASEAN Heritage Parks also have their own stories to tell on how these protected areas all over the region have contributed to wellness and healing, especially as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The opportunity to gather today to share our AHP stories would not have been possible if not for the perseverance and dedication of our host of this Conference, the Republic of Indonesia. After some delays due to challenges beyond our control, we are finally here today, in one of the most megadiverse countries in the world, to discuss the valuable links between our protected areas and healing. While the COVID-19 pandemic has limited our capabilities for face-to-face connections, it has given us the opportunity to innovate and be creative in finding the means to communicate and to act together to achieve a common objective— to heal nature and to heal ourselves.
That is why as the world charts the path to building a better normal, the ASEAN called for coordinated contributions as an ultimate objective towards a more inclusive and sustainable recovery, emphasising the importance of promoting nature-based solutions to increase the region’s resilience.
In November 2020, the ASEAN leaders adopted the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework or the regional exit strategy from the COVID-19 health crisis that acknowledges the use of nature-based solutions, referring to actions to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage nature, including biodiversity as part of the region’s road to recovery and in building resilience against future pandemics. As part of our contribution to realising the objectives of the ACRF, we convene this Conference—to give everyone a stake and a voice in demonstrating how nature— how biodiversity has, and can help us face global challenges such as new and emerging diseases, increasing incidence of climate-related natural disasters, and world hunger.
Our home, the ASEAN region, despite occupying only three percent of the world’s total land area, is home to almost a fifth of all known plant and animal species in the world. ASEAN’s rich biodiversity––from the diverse species to the ecosystems of forests, wetlands, coasts, and seas—exemplifies the bounty and uniqueness of our region’s natural heritage.
We find ourselves immersed in this intricate web of life innately, that our cultural heritage and survival would not be possible without it. As the world gets back on its feet from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while facing the looming threats of continued biodiversity loss, the intensifying impacts of the changing climate, and the possibilities of more pandemics, we have come to an understanding of our broken relationship with nature.The conference theme, Healing Nature and People, emphasises the value of ASEAN Heritage Parks, and protected and conserved areas as part of our nature-based solution in building a sustainable future for all.
The discussions in the next few days have been designed for this purpose —- to highlight the strong links that make nature, make biodiversity all the more valuable for all of us––for human health and pandemic resilience. The richness of biodiversity in protected and conserved areas, if effectively managed, may indeed be the game-changer that can turn the tide against emerging diseases by acting as buffers to contain pathogens, and also as natural gene pools that can be sources and inspiration for primary and adjunct treatments to illnesses.
I am confident that in this conference, we will be able to hear about strategies that can highlight the complementation of innovative science and traditional knowledge. In these discussions, we will also be able to listen to how full and effective participation of a diversity of partners such as local communities, women, academe and field practitioners, as well as the youth, is given much emphasis in effective PA management. Recognising the vital role of the youth in helping us amplify our call for biodiversity conservation, we are currently working with 20 talented Young ASEAN Storytellers who are sharing with us new perspectives in biodiversity as told through the lens of ASEAN Heritage Parks.
We are pleased to be likewise joined by representatives from valuable stakeholder groups from all over ASEAN; key sectors such as business, finance, infrastructure, and health, among others, that form part of the bigger sustainability picture.
Now as the global community sets out to finalise the new biodiversity agenda in COP 15, the ASEAN, as a region, brings with it the hope of an ambitious yet realistic framework that we can use to guide our ways and measure our progress. This will also come in timely as the ASEAN High level Task Force buckles up to work on the Region’s post-2025 vision. So I invite you all to let this platform— the AHP 7, be our opportunity to express our expectations and contributions towards global and regional commitments that will take into account our priorities for AHPs and protected areas in ASEAN.
At this juncture, let me emphasise that the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, as the region’s response to biodiversity loss, stands ready to remain as a reliable partner in supporting ASEAN’s resolve to meet global and regional biodiversity targets. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our AHP allies —the European Union, the Federal Government of Germany through the KfW and GIZ, the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund, and the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, our newest partner from the private sector.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone here for being instrumental in promoting and conserving the region’s rich and colourful natural and cultural heritage through the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme and I wish you all a meaningful AHP conference!
Selamat Pagi!