Story | 07 Jul, 2016

IUCN Asia shares insights at capacity building workshop in Thailand

IUCN Asia participated in a five-day capacity building workshop from June 27 to July 1 organised by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The event is part of a series of workshops being organised through the implementation of the Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (FERI) by the Secretariat of the CBD (SCBD), with financial support from the Korea Forest Service of the Government of the Republic of Korea.

The objective of the workshop was to facilitate a review of national targets and commitments for the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems and their services and to support the development of implementation plans that foster progress towards measurable and achievable national targets under Aichi Biodiversity Targets 5, 14 and 15. The workshop was attended by representatives from the Government of Thailand, CBD, FAO, the World Bank, IUCN, World Resources Institute (WRI), Birdlife, REDD, International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and SCBD.

Participants reviewed national commitments and their stages of implementation, through presentations and discussions on country practices. They also learned about best practices in ecosystem conservation and restoration from experts in the field, including approaches to mainstream biodiversity into national development plans. Opportunities for resource mobilisation to support countries’ implementation plans were also discussed. 

IUCN Asia’s Raquibul Amin, Senior Operations Manager for Mangroves for the Future and Li Jia, Forest Landscape Restoration Coordinator, shared their insights at a panel discussion looking at types of support available to countries to combat deforestation and assessing the restoration potential as a contribution to global commitments under the CBD and other Rio Conventions. Raquibul also introduced mangrove restoration approaches, challenges, and opportunities, including information on mangrove polyculture and other models that incentivise stakeholders. 

Jia’s presentation highlighted the relevance of global Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) to biodiversity conservation. She presented preliminary results of an IUCN global study which talked about how FLR can support countries to fulfill their international commitments such as Convention of Biological Diversity and supporting the Aichi targets. Jia also facilitated a session for prioritising and planning restoration to integrate ecosystem and landscape approaches. In this session, she introduced the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) – a flexible and affordable framework for countries to identify and analyse areas that are primed for forest landscape restoration (FLR), developed by IUCN and the World Resources Institute (WRI), its methodology and general principles, processes and basic components of application. 

Petch Manopawitr, Programme Coordinator for IUCN Thailand, gave a presentation on how community-based action can be used to tackle forest degradation. He also highlighted two Thai projects – one in the north in the watershed area of Doi Mae Salong and one in the buffer zone of Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai World Heritage site as successful FLR initiatives. 

The workshop led to the development of a draft outline on how short-term actions advance the implementation of specific elements of Aichi Targets 5 and 15. It also provided participants with a better understanding of:

  • information gaps in countries’ national reports and NBSAPs and of the ways to address them in the short term; 
  • strengths and weaknesses of countries’ national targets under Aichi Targets 5, 14 and 15, the potential barriers (political, institutional) to the adoption of more specific or ambitious national targets, and the potential for synergies with other efforts such as in relation to climate change mitigation and adaptation;
  • countries’ capacity and knowledge of natural ecosystem conservation and restoration techniques, planning and implementation; and 
  • progress, capacities and the needs of countries’ for achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets 5, 14 and 15, in order to prioritise support accordingly.