Project Diaries: 2002

07-09 November

Under the sponsorship of ARCBC and UNESCO-Jakarta Office, international experts, conservation specialists and practitioners from Europe, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia met in Cambodia (Workshop Towards Harmonizing the Management and Action Plans for the Conservation of Transboundary Reserves in ASEAN) to develop guidelines in promoting collaboration in planning and management of protected areas along national borders.

05-06 November

The 6th Consultative Meeting of the National Biodiversity Reference Units and ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation was held in in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. The following agreements were made during the Meeting: a. Work Plan and Budget for 2003 of ARCBC b. Preparation of ARCBC Phase II c. ARCBC Activities for 2003

12 October

Dr. Paul Kessler of Leiden University, The Netherlands was posted as EU Biodiversity Chair to Isabela State University (ISU) for six weeks. He extended expert consultation, advice, teachings and hands-on training to the Environmental Information Center Herbarium staff, selected faculty and students of ISU; assisted in the design and conduct of seminar-workshop on plant identification and measurement; validated identified herbarium specimen; and conducted of selected University staff among others.

3 September

Leaders of four ARCBC-funded biodiversity research projects in the Philippines presented their accomplishments against the individual projects' objectives and time frame in a workshop held at the Visitor's Center of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) in Quezon City, Philippines. This was the first monitoring of biodiversity grant projects in ASEAN conducted by ARCBC since the research grant programme was launched last year. Under the ARCBC Research Grant Program Dr. Licuanan of the UP Marine Science Institute, has completed the survey of coral reef in Eastern Philippines and reported the discovery of four coral species that were not previously reported in the Philippines.

19 August - 25 September

In the hope that the ARCBC project continues beyond 2004 ARCBC Phase 2), the EC launched a Mid-Term Review (MTR) Mission. The report submitted was based on a review of project documents and discussions with stakeholders from ARCBC, NBRU Coordinators, EC Delegations in ASEAN member countries and the ASEAN Secretariat. The MTR evaluation concluded that the project is a very valuable enterprise that deserves continued support and urgent attention to follow-on arrangements. It also concluded that it is a priority to formulate a strategy for the evolution and continuation of the ARCBC in an appropriate and effective form, guided by the wishes of participating countries and the ASEAN Secretariat to address the mounting biodiversity crisis within ASEAN.

14-16 August 2002

The Prevention and Management of Invasive Alien Species: Forging Cooperation throughout South and Southeast Asia was held in Bangkok, Thailand. EU Co-Director John R. MacKinnon presented the paper entitled, "Invasive Alien Species in Southeast Asia" together with a PowerPoint presentation.

17 July

Members of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment comprising the Steering Committee (SC) of ARCBC convened for the 5th Meeting of the SC of ARCBC in Siemreap, Kingdom of Cambodia. The outputs of the meeting include: Approval of the Year 2003 Work Plan of ARCBC; and Approval of the research projects from Cambodia and Lao PDR The Meeting expressed full support for the continuation of the ARCBC and requested the ARCBC Co-Directors to prepare a draft of the proposal for Phase II of ARCBC by December 2002, including the identified funding sources.

17 July

ARCBC hosted the visit of 11-man delegation from Ethiopia . Their visit intended to: learn about the regional project on biodiversity conservation and its operation; and explore possible funding sources.

7 July to 17 August

Simultaneous with the above training is the training course on Aspects of Plant Taxonomy on Biodiversity Inventory and Conservation of Protected Ecosystems in Southeast Asia conducted in Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia. Twenty-one young qualified taxonomists from ASEAN member countries benefited from this training. Resource persons were from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and The Netherlands. Best performer from the Training Courses were later awarded scholarship to pursue Master Degree in Taxonomy and conduct research on herbarium and zoological collections in Europe coming from ASEAN member countries. Of the 39 participants, 9 outstanding young taxonomists from were awarded with scholarship grants from Leiden University.

2 July to 12 August

Training course on Invertebrate Taxonomy with Special Reference to Less Well-Known Groups was conducted in Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Bogor Indonesia and participated in by 17 young qualified taxonomists from ASEAN member countries. Resource persons were from Indonesia and The Netherlands.

1-5 July

The Workshop on Identification of Standards for Protected Area Occupation in the ASEAN was held in Kinabalu National Park, Sabah, Malaysia with the following main outputs: process of identifying occupational standards in protected area occupation; list of Competences for Protected Area Occupations; nine occupation-based competence requirements for protected areas staff in the ASEAN ; and chart of generic protected area occupations for the ASEAN.

24 June - 05 July

ARCBC rendered training to staff of Indonesian Institute of Sciences, ARCBC's National Biodiversity Reference Unit in Indonesia, on how to create their own online database system using ARCBC Biodiversity Information Sharing System module and on image mapping, particularly putting hotspots on images in hypertext mark up language documents.

23-29 June

A study tour to Europe of ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN) entitled, Developing Common Biodiversity Environmental Policies for ASEAN, enhanced the understanding of ASOEN members about the formulation and implementation of common EU policies and programmes to address biodiversity conservation and other environmental issues at the regional, national and project levels. Related institutions in Paris, Brussels, and The Hague were visited.

17-19 June

The 3rd Research Conference (Theme: Biodiversity Valuation) of ARCBC was held in Quezon City, Philippines. The research conference, with the theme on biodiversity valuation, aimed to enhance the capabilities of ASEAN researchers in conducting valuation studies on biodiversity in the region.

19 June 2002

The 4th Meeting of the Scientific Experts Committee selected 6 out of 13 research proposals from Cambodia and 9 out of 11 from Lao PDR for funding under the Research Grant Programme of ARCBC.

17-21 June

ARCBC rendered training to staff of Office of Environmental Planning and Policy, ARCBC's National Biodiversity Reference Unit in Thailand, on how to create their own online database system using ARCBC Biodiversity Information Sharing Service module.

14 June

The Amendment No. 1 to the Financing Agreement entered into force. Quoted below is the agreed decision: The following provisions of Financing Agreement ASEAN/B7-300/IB/96/22 "ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation) concluded between the Community and the Recipient on 22 July 1997, to take into consideration the entry of Laos and Cambodia as new members of ASEAN, are hereby replaced/ completed."

12 June

Ms. Le Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of Nature Conservation Division, National Environment Agency (NEA) was appointed as national coordinator for Vietnam by Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, Chairman of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment-Vietnam and General Director of NEA. The Research Grant Programme of ARCBC was launched in Cambodia and Lao PDR. Dr. Aida Lapis, Chief of the Research Branch of ARCBC and For. Myra David solicited research proposals, elucidated the process of research project call, contract, fund transfer, among others. ARCBC received 13 research proposals from Cambodia and 11 from Lao PDR.

24 May

Mr. Soukata Vichit, Chairman of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment-Lao PDR and Director General of Department of Environment of Science, Technology and Environment Agency appointed Dr. Sengdeuane Wayakone, National Expert for Forest Management and EI and Acting Head of Forest Management Department of National University of Laos as member of the Scientific Experts Committee-Lao PDR.

14-16 May

The 5th Consultative Meeting of National Biodiversity Reference Unit Coordinators and ARCBC held in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines confirmed the project achievements and agreed on various components of ARCBC that should be sustained and enhanced after the project ends in 2004.

25-29 March

Mr. Michael Raymond Appleton, EU Training Advisor of ARCBC, completed the fact-finding mission in Vietnam, an initial activity of the Regional Standard Setting Programme. The Programme aims to gain regional endorsement and widespread use of a set of generic standards (competencies) for protected areas staff. Fact-finding mission by in the following countries followed: 2 February-7 March-Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore (Conducted by Dr. Monina Uriarte, Chief of the Training Branch of ARCBC and Mr. Michael Raymond Appleton) 21 January-7 February-Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand (Conducted by ASEAN Co-Director Gregorio I. Texon and EU Training Advisor Mr. Michael Raymond Appleton). The visits to Cambodia and Lao PDR intended to: help establish the national biodiversity reference unit; introduce ARCBC to a wide range of potential collaborators and identify opportunities for support and partnerships; and investigate training standards and programmes.

25 March

Mr. Khieu Muth, Chairman of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment-Cambodia and Director General of Ministry of Environment appointed Dr. Neou Bonheur, Deputy Director of Department for Nature Conservation and Protection as member of the Scientific Experts Committee of ARCBC-Cambodia.

20-21 March

ARCBC sponsored the National R&D Workshop on Biodiversity Conservation. The workshop was participated by various research institutions, nongovernment organizations, academes and came up with priority research areas.

13 March

Mr. Giacomo Rambaldi, Information and Communication Advisor of ARCBC delivered a lecture on "Giving Voice to the Unspoken: The Use of Participatory Mapping Techniques to Produce Geo-Referenced Information" at SEARCA, Los Baños, Laguna. The need for improving the efficiency of the tools and processes is discussed in a historic context.

14-15 February

ARCBC represented by the Co-Directors attended the Regional Study on Forest Policy and Institutional Reforms and Regional Workshop on Review of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Forest Policy held at ADB Headquarters in Mandaluyong City, Philippines. ARCBC publications were distributed to participants and project exhibit was put up.

25 January

Prof. Dr. Eberhard Curio, ARCBC EU Chair and Professor, Conservation Biology Unit, Faculty of Biology, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany delivered a lecture on "Regeneration of Philippine Rain Forests: Ideas and Experiments" at the UPLB-CFNR Operations Room. He discussed the mechanisms and constraints of seed dispersal by birds and fruit bats.