How is ASEAN coping with Biodiversity loss?
Alarmed by the unprecedented loss of biodiversity in the region they call home, the 10 Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are working together to protect their main source of food, shelter, and livelihood – the region’s rich but highly threatened biodiversity. The consensus to save the region’s thinning biodiversity moved the ASEAN, with funding support from the European Union (EU), to establish the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC) project. From 1999 to 2004, the project facilitated collaboration among ASEAN Member States, and with other international organizations, for biodiversity-related initiatives. On September 27, 2005, the ASEAN and EU established the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) to carry on the work of the completed ARCBC project. ACB is regarded as the first regional initiative to save the ASEAN’s thinning biodiversity. As an intergovernmental regional centre of excellence, ACB facilitates cooperation among the
