First of two parts
WITH the annual estimated value of wildlife and wildlife resources being traded illegally reaching $10 million, Southeast Asia’s rich biodiversity is without doubt facing a very serious threat.
While there are serious efforts to address biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia, experts and resource speakers told participants during the recently concluded Asean Conference on Biodiversity (ACB2016) held at the Bangkok Convention Center and Centara Grand Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, that much still needs to be done to protect and conserve these important life-giving natural resources.
With the theme: “Biodiversity for Sustainable Development,” the meeting organized by Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) focused on biodiversity in Southeast Asia and tackled biodiversity’s link to health, businesses and the ecosystem-based approach to conservation. The meeting also highlighted the importance of biodiversity to the survival of more than half-a-billion people living in the region.
Costly undertaking
Biodiversity conservation does not come cheap, according to Blakhishna Pisupati, who represented the United Nation Environmental Program (UNEP), during a speech.
He told participants that around $150 billion to $400 billion a year is needed for biodiversity conservation. “There is a need to fully understand the global supply chain of illegal wildlife trade and identify better ways of monitoring species,” he said.
Wildlife trafficking, however, is just one of the major drivers of global biodiversity loss, including Southeast Asia, which has one of the highest concentrations of flora and fauna. The 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), being parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), are committed to work together to address biodiversity loss by pursuing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, compliance of which is measured by progress in achieving a set targets called Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Direct drivers of biodiversity loss in Asean, according to the ACB—the center based in the Philippines dedicated to promoting biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia—are habitat change, climate change, invasive alien species, over-exploitation, pollution and poverty.
‘Biodiversity Outlook’
ACB Executive Director Roberto V. Oliva told the BusinessMirror in an interview during the ACB2016 kick-off ceremony on February 15 that halfway through the 2020 deadline, most Asean member-states are “on-track” in achieving the Aichi Biodivesity Targets.
He said many countries, in their self-rated report to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), earned the “yellow-light” tag, which means that policies have been put in place to achieve important biodiversity goals. This gave a glimpse of the soon-to-be released “Asean Biodiversity Outlook-2,” a report that will show how Asean has fared in conserving biodiversity.
Oliva was referring to the fifth National Reports of the Asean member-states to the CBD.
More than just conservation
While much have been done by Asean member-states according to Amy Fraenkel, SCBD’s director for Mainstreaming, Partnerships and Outreach, “there is still much to be done.”
She said, “The economic realities in Asean bring a high cost to biodiversity, driving extinction rates, and rapid loss degradation and degradation of habitats.”
She pointed out that the challenge cannot be realized through conservation alone, adding that there is a need to integrate conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity resources, which includes mainstreaming, issues such as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets; access and benefit sharing; health; ecosystems-based approaches; effective management of protected areas (PAs ), and the Asean Heritage Parks into development plans.
She added: “Biodiversity cannot be separated from development and the Sustainable Development Goals,” and called on Asean member-states to step up conservation actions in Southeast Asia.
A more active partnerships, she said, is needed to ensure that biodiversity goals are achieved.
There are a total of 20 targets under five strategic goals, which aim to measure the level of accomplishment of individual member-states in implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
The goals are: 1) address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society; 2) reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use; 3) improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity; 4) enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services; and 5) enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity-building.
To be concluded
Image credits: Jonathan L. Mayuga