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By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
The Los Baños, Laguna-based ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) underscored the importance of transboundary cooperation among ASEAN member countries to protect wildlife and migratory species and their habitats in the region.
“Species know no national boundaries and so the responsibility of protecting them is not borne by one country alone. This makes sub-regional cooperation paramount,” said ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim.
Speaking about ASEAN’s joint efforts in reducing threats to biodiversity at a plenary session of the Annual Conference on Environmental Science at the Mindanao State University on its Tawi-Tawi Campus, she cited to the collaboration between Malaysian and Philippine governments to protect the population of marine turtles moving across their boundaries. A bilateral agreement established the first transboundary protection area in the region, the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area which bans the collection of turtle eggs and introduce alternative projects to community residents.
In a statement released today by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN Center for Biodiversity), it was learned another project, called ASEAN Flyway network aims to conserve migratory water birds and their habitats in the coastal and inland wetlands along the East Asian-Australian Flyway (EAAF).
The first phase began last year and was supported by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) and the Singaporean government as country lead. The project involves networking and collaboration among countries through the annual meting of ASEAN Flyway Network National planning workshops to identify priorities and challenges.
The ASEAN region lies at the middle of the EAAF, one of the major flyways in the world, which supports the annual migration of 50 million water birds. Among the birds flying this route is critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) which breeds in north-eastern Russia and winters in Southeast Asia.
Due to the destruction and degradation of wetlands where it resides, its global population has declined rapidly. It is estimated between 240 and 456 individuals based on recent count from the International Waterbird Census.
The ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook 2, quoting findings by the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association, reported that Nan Thar Island in Rakhine State and Gulf of Martaban in Myanmar, both within the 8,000-km EAAF, are critical wintering groups for the species.
“Cooperation in the ASEAN is the most effective approach to conserving and protecting these migratory flyways,” Lim added. The conference was organized by the Philippine Environmental Science Association (PESA) where experts, government officials, students and members of the Academe as well as representatives from the private sector talked about research updates and issues on key environmental issues.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
