LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – As part of its 21st anniversary celebration, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity has officially launched the ASEAN Biodiversity Knowledge Platform (ABKP), demonstrating the Centre’s commitment to advancing biodiversity knowledge sharing and improving access to biodiversity information across the ASEAN region.
Under the theme, “Advancing Regional Biodiversity Knowledge Sharing and Access in ASEAN”, the launch was held in a hybrid format at the ACB Headquarters. The ABKP is envisioned to be a regional gateway for biodiversity knowledge, making it more accessible and useful for conservation action, policy and decision-making, research, education, and regional collaboration in the region.
Lack of available information and data fragmentation were often cited as some of the challenges in biodiversity conservation across Southeast Asia. Findings show that data, information, and knowledge on biodiversity across ASEAN are often dispersed in various websites, databases, repositories, projects, and institutions. This can make valuable knowledge difficult to find, access, and utilise effectively. The ABKP seeks to address this concern by serving as a centralised and accessible regional gateway to biodiversity knowledge.
“By bringing resources together in one place, this knowledge platform helps researchers, policymakers, practitioners, educators, students, and other stakeholders discover and use information that can support their work,” said Dr. Jerome Montemayor, ACB Executive Director, in his opening remarks.
Dr. Montemayor emphasised that through the ABKP, the ACB aims to make credible biodiversity information more accessible and relevant, supporting the priorities of the ASEAN Member States and contributing to our regional and global biodiversity goals.
Led by the Biodiversity Knowledge Management Department, the activity featured a presentation of the ABKP journey and its development, followed by a demonstration of its key platform features. It also showcased featured biodiversity resources and a discussion of opportunities for stakeholders to contribute resources and knowledge.
Exploring the ABKP
This innovative platform serves multiple functions. It curates biodiversity knowledge resources, improves visibility and discoverability of information, connects existing knowledge systems, supports collaboration and learning, and preserves institutional knowledge.
It is a single platform that gathers resources and information from the ASEAN Member States, the ACB’s priority programmes and projects, other research institutions, and regional networks, as well as from the ACB’s partner organisations.
Various groups and biodiversity stakeholders, such as governments and policymakers, academic and research institutions, biodiversity practitioners, youth organisations, community and peoples’ organisations, development organisations, and others may take advantage of the variety of resources available at the ABKP such as: technical reports, research publications, policy documents, guidelines, toolkits, learning materials, case studies, knowledge products, and other biodiversity-related resources.
The ABKP supports Target 21 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the ASEAN Biodiversity Plan which focuses on ensuring the accessibility of the best available data, information, and knowledge to guide biodiversity action.
Being more than just another scientific platform, the ABKP hopes to intensify knowledge exchange and learning on biodiversity conservation across the region, making way for a more robust regional knowledge management and better-informed biodiversity conservation actions. It likewise seeks to promote enhanced cooperation among biodiversity stakeholders at all levels while providing better and more credible biodiversity information for decision-making.
Dr. Montemayor urged the public to explore the platform and make use of its resources. “I also encourage you to help enrich this shared knowledge space so that it may continue to grow in relevance and value for our region. Together, let us make biodiversity knowledge more accessible and turn that knowledge into meaningful action for the people and nature in the ASEAN region and beyond,” he said.
