Joel Forte Joel Forte Photo by by Photo With increasing global environmental pressures, it is quite evident that the world’s species and ecosystems are under serious threat. All forms of wildlife face risks from the degradation of habitats through illegal logging, land conversion, pollution and others; overexploitation and use of illegal and destructive harvesting practices; and poaching and trafficking of wild plants and animals. These and many other threats Wildlife conservation is particularly significant undermine the population growth, diversity, and in ASEAN as the region provides habitats for breeding and reproductive behavior of wildlife. some of the world’s most iconic and increasingly vulnerable species. These species, which are Thousands of species are endangered and on essential to the cultural and natural heritage the brink of extinction, leading to the possible of the region, include the Asian elephant; loss of both endemic and economically important Sumatran, Malayan and Indo-Chinese tigers; species. The massive loss of wildlife has led to orangutan; Sumatran and Malayan rhinoceros; rates of extinction that are considered at least and hornbill, among many others. In addition to 100 to 1,000 times higher than nature intended. various environmental pressures, ASEAN is also The World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) 2014 a global hotspot for the poaching, trafficking, and Living Planet Report found wildlife populations consumption of illegally traded wildlife parts and of vertebrate species—mammals, birds, reptiles, products. These include live animals and bush amphibians, and fish—have declined by 52 meat; bones, rare plants, scales, and other parts percent over the last 40 years. used for traditional medicine; wildlife products such as exotic leather goods and wooden The Convention on International Trade in musical instruments; timber; decorations and Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora luxury products; pets and zoo exhibits; and (CITES), which aims to regulate trade in the souvenirs and collectors’ trophies. world’s species, provides varying degrees of protection to thousands of species to ensure These and various other threats may already their survival. CITES protects roughly 5,600 mean the loss of many unrecorded and little species of animals and 30,000 species of plants studied species that may have infinite benefits against overexploitation through international to humankind. Thus, saving wildlife species trade. Vigilance among Parties and enforcement and their habitats are priority programs for of wildlife law and trade restrictions will hopefully environment organizations across ASEAN. ensure the survival of critically endangered species. 102 ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook 2 Global efforts in wildlife conservation At the international level, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is the lead Various multilateral environmental agreements department working on issues related to wildlife (MEAs) address wildlife conservation, such as and forest crime. UNODC is a global leader in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the fight against illegal drugs and international CITES, Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), crime, and, increasingly, environmental crime, and Convention on Wetlands of International specifically the illegal wildlife trade. The Importance or Ramsar Convention. CITES is international nature of environmental crime particularly relevant as it aims to ensure that requires the expertise and support of Interpol, international trade in specimens of wild animals which not only helps address crimes but and plants does not threaten their survival. provides support in information sharing and capacity building. Another important endeavor in wildlife conservation is the International Union for Establishment and effective management of Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of terrestrial and marine protected areas (PA) Threatened Species, which has assessed continue to be effective measures in the 79,800 species and provides a comprehensive conservation of wildlife species and habitats. information source on the global conservation Identification of key biodiversity areas (KBAs) and status of animal, fungi, and plant species. The Important Bird Areas (IBAs) allow modification Red List also provides information about the of boundaries or establishment of additional PAs range, population size, habitat and ecology, use to ensure that species are effectively protected. and/or trade, threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation Conserving ASEAN’s wildlife decisions. The IUCN Red List is a powerful tool for biodiversity conservation policy and As indicated in Table 1 in the section on Forest, action and has moved countries to develop threatened species constitute 16 percent their own national Red Lists. The IUCN Red of 14,591 species assessed by the IUCN in List is managed by the IUCN Global Species ASEAN from 1996 to 2015. More plants are Programme, which implements global species threatened compared to animals. Mammals conservation initiatives, including Red List and birds constitute 84 percent of all threatened biodiversity assessment projects, to assess the wildlife as these groups are the most affected by status of species for the IUCN Red List and on deforestation. Table 7 lists some of the critically the ground conservation projects. endangered wildlife in ASEAN. Photo by Amri Arfianto ASEAN Biodiversity in a Changing Environment 103 Table 7. Some of ASEAN’s most critically endangered species Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/ on 18 October 2016. 104 ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook 2 Various projects have been established to Greater Mekong Subregion Core Environment strengthen the populations of the region’s most at Program and Biodiversity Conservation risk species. These include efforts to determine Corridors Initiative biodiversity status of wildlife; in situ and ex situ conservation programs; development of law In 1992, the six countries that form the Greater and policy; strengthened law enforcement; and Mekong Subregion (GMS) – Cambodia, the provision of institutional and community support People’s Republic of China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, for wildlife conservation, among others. Thailand, and Viet Nam – entered an economic cooperation program, with the assistance of the Assessment of biodiversity status Asian Development Bank (ADB), to facilitate the implementation of high-priority projects across All AMS continue to conduct biodiversity various sectors. The Mekong River is a major assessments to evaluate the conservation source of food and livelihood, farmland irrigation status of species, and list them appropriately, and energy; facilitates transport; and provides when necessary, in the IUCN Red List or CITES. habitats for vital freshwater species. The GMS Other AMS, such as Singapore, Thailand, and also embraces unique flora and fauna, some of Viet Nam, have developed and updated their which have evolved in isolation on the Cardamom own national Red List. and Annamite mountains across the GMS (ADB, n.d.). ADB, country members, and other partners Transboundary conservation have been working on emerging environmental concerns that facilitated the formation of the GMS Biodiversity knows no boundaries, and this is Core Environment Program and Biodiversity particularly evident in ASEAN where various Conservation Corridors Initiative (CEP-BCI). species roam among countries with shared The program consolidates environmental political borders. Migratory species travel initiatives under a single integrated program between countries as part of their life cycle. While to achieve a poverty-free and ecologically-rich ASEAN has always stressed the importance GMS by mainstreaming sound environmental of a common responsibility over the region’s management across all GMS economic shared natural resources, this is particularly cooperation program sectors to enhance their evident in AMS that are land-linked, share development impact and sustainability (GMS specific resources and ecosystems, and provide Environment Operations Center, 2011). habitats for migratory species. Addressing common issues requires transboundary International Tropical Timber Organization cooperation to overcome different policy, legal, (ITTO)/CBD Collaborative Initiative for Tropical and institutional structures; management and Forest Biodiversity governance regimes; and social, cultural and economic contexts and systems. Some of The joint ITTO/CBD Collaborative Initiative for the transboundary programs and protected Tropical Forest Biodiversity aims to enhance areas that have been established to overcome biodiversity conservation in tropical forests with complex relations between countries include the the direct participation of local stakeholders. following: It addresses the main drivers of biodiversity loss in tropical forests: deforestation and Photo by Achmad Syachmy ASEAN Biodiversity in a Changing Environment 105 forest degradation. The initiative supports assessments may yield the identification of IBAs ITTO producer member countries in reducing and KBAs, some of which may not be part of biodiversity loss through the implementation existing protected area systems. Protected of the CBD Programme of Work on Forest areas that comprise IBAs and KBAs are critical Biodiversity, focusing on the common objectives to the protection of species and prevention of of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 extinctions. and the ITTO Action