Press Release: UNESCO and TNC extend Partnership in Biodiversity Conservation

Jakarta, November, 21st, 2008

• © UNESCO Jakarta/Ardito M Kodijat
• Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO and Rili Djohani, Country Director TNC Indonesia Program, at the signing ceremony

As a comparatively small component of the wider Asia-Pacific region, Southeast Asia hosts 20% of all known species in its seas, forests, lakes and rivers, despite only occupying 3% of the earth’s total surface. Seven of the World’s 25 recognized biodiversity hotspots are located in ASEAN member states, and Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are widely acknowledged as mega-diversity countries. The region is hosting spectacular rainforests teaming with life, and a third of the planets coral reefs, among them the most diverse reef ecosystems worldwide. But these invaluable assets are at risk. At the current rate of deforestation the region risks to lose three quarters of its forests and 42% of its biodiversity by 2100, while 80% of its coral reefs are under threat from destructive fishing practices and impacts related to global climate change.

Acknowledging their shared visions in the fields of conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, Russell Leiman, the Nature Conservancy’s Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific Region and Hubert Gijzen, Director of UNESCO’s Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding in Jakarta on November 21, 2008. It extends an earlier MoU on regional cooperation made in 2003 and contributes significantly to a global partnership agreement between UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and the Nature Conservancy.

Both Directors noted common interests, e.g. in regard to the endorsement and support of natural World Heritage sites and Biosphere Reserves, including sustainable natural and cultural heritage-based tourism, capacity-building and training for sustainable natural resource management, and a strong focus on community involvement in protected area management. Both parties underlined their commitment to continue ongoing collaboration by supporting the identification, nomination and management of natural sites with outstanding universal value, e.g. in the context of the Coral Triangle Initiative. Responding to recent global surveys assessing the management effectiveness of protected areas under the global framework of the Convention on Biodiversity, TNC and UNESCO aim to increase their support for site-based capacity-building for protected area management, as well as to foster the ecological science capacity in the region, particularly in regard to taxonomy and biodiversity assessment.

• Source:UNESCO Jakarta
• 21-01-2008