Asean countries act to prevent biological erosion

In Southeast Asia flora and fauna exist in a wide variety of species. That is why the region is considered one of the major centers of biological diversity or biodiversity. However, biological erosion caused by natural and most often, man-made activities have threatened their existence. Some endemic and rare species are also in the brink of extinction.

Biological resource is one of our life support systems. Various sectors are dependent on it for their development. It is where a considerable number of medicines are extracted by pharmaceutical companies and raw materials by industries. Agriculture is also dependent on its wild genetic resources. Marine fishes thrive on healthy coastal resources, rivers and estuaries. Water resources are highly dependent on forested watershed. These are but a few examples.

The concept of biodiversity as an approach in conserving the environment and natural resources was introduced in the late 80’s. Since then it has been not only a global issue but regional and local as well. Organizations and centers were established for this purpose.

The ASEAN Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC) located in UP, Los Baños, Laguna, serves as the focal point of the region in networking and institutionalizing linkages among the ASEAN member countries and European Union (EU) partner organizations in order to enhance the capacity of ASEAN in promoting biodiversity conservation. This is a five-year project under the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Since biodiversity is a new approach, the capacities and experiences of managers and implementers about it are not sufficient enough to address related current and future needs and situations. Hence, their competencies have to be upgraded. Similarly, there is a need to educate the stakeholders on the concept for them to appreciate, support and act. For these reasons, the ARCBC conducted a workshop on training needs in Bangkok, Thailand from April 23 to 27, 2001. In attendance were 29 participants representating the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Its objectives were to determine the training needs widely perceived as the most important, and to develop theme-focused activity packages. For ASEAN member countries, the outputs were activity packages on taxonomy, biodiversity assessment and management, biodiversity awareness, and data-base. The participants had high hopes that these packages will not only hone the competencies of the participants to perform their roles/functions in biodiversity conservation, but also foster cooperation and complementation in ensuring that biodiversity will be carried out sustainably in the region through cooperation and complementation among member nations. The soundness of these activity packages however, will be decided by ARCBC.

Biodiversity conservation may seem to be a tough undertaking, but with the synergistic efforts among the member countries, full support of ARCBC, and some support from international organizations and funding institutions, Southeast Asia will remain one of the major centers of biodiversity in the world, if not the topmost among them.