ASEAN workshop in Los Baños, Philippines, 18-22 May
ACB, France and Japan partner to boost Southeast Asia’s taxonomic capacity
ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity Press Release 7 May 09;
Taxonomy, the science of describing, naming and classifying organisms, is a building block for information sharing on flora and fauna. The last few decades, however, saw the discipline of taxonomy falling off the global political, funding, and academic agendas.
To boost Southeast Asia’s taxonomic capacities, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is partnering with the French and Japanese governments to conduct a workshop on taxonomic needs assessment.
The French Regional Delegation and the French Embassy in Manila, together with Japan’s Ministry of the Environment’s Biodiversity Center, will provide funding support for the “ASEAN Regional Workshop on Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI): Needs Assessment and Networking” on 18-22 May 2009 in SEARCA, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
The workshop, organized by the European Union-funded ACB, is supported by experts from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), specialists from other branches of the Japanese government, experts from the Museum of Natural History of France (MNHN), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT), the Global Network for Taxonomy (Bionet), and other taxonomic specialists in the region.
“There is a dire need to revive interest in taxonomy. The diminishing status of taxonomy is crippling ASEAN Member States’ chances of effectively cataloguing their biological resources. Without knowing and understanding the species we have, it would be difficult to implement biodiversity conservation efforts,” ACB Executive Director Rodrigo U. Fuentes said.
“We are delighted to partner with the French and Japanese governments on this activity as France and Japan are known for their extensive experience in the field of taxonomic initiative and their network of museums, herbariums and similar repositories of biological information,” Director Fuentes added.
Ms. Clarissa Arida, ACB Director for Program Development and Implementation, said the workshop will provide a venue for sharing experiences in the implementation of the Program of Work for the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and identifying future programs for capacity development in the ASEAN region.
The Conference of Parties (COP) to the CBD realized that taxonomic information, taxonomic and curatorial expertise, and infrastructure are insufficient in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries. Such a gap was anticipated to be one of the key obstacles in the implementation of the Convention. To overcome this taxonomic impediment, the GTI was established.
“Adequate taxonomy is one of the fundamental tools required for the global community to implement the Millennium Development Goals and the development targets from the World Summit for Sustainable Development. Without sufficient long-term investment in the human, infrastructural, and information resources necessary to underpin the science of taxonomy, the now well-recognized taxonomic impediment will continue to prevent implementation of sound, scientifically based sustainable, environmental management and development policies,” Director Fuentes explained.
He added that taxonomy is a critical tool for combating the threat from invasive alien species and other concerns such as in human health. Without access to support, misidentifications are made, costing precious money and time when rapid decisions need to be made.
The workshop will culminate with the celebration of the International Day for Biodiversity on 22 May with the launch of the First ASEAN-wide Photo Contest “Zooming in on Biodiversity” sponsored by ACB and the European Commission; the redesigned ACB website, and the ASEAN Biodiversity Information Sharing Service/Regional Clearinghouse Mechanism.
“The workshop is very timely as the international community will be observing the International Day for Biodiversity in 22 May with invasive alien species as this year’s theme.
“Through this partnership with the French and Japanese governments, we will mobilize and share expertise in the field of taxonomy and ensure that taxonomic capacities will be made accessible to ASEAN Member States,” Director Fuentes said.
For more information on the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity and its advocacy, log on to www.aseanbiodiversity.org or e-mail contact.us@aseanbiodiversity.org.
