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Regional Knowledge Sharing Event on Transboundary Biodiversity Landscape Management in the GMS
Senior environment and forestry officials from Yunnan and Guangxi met with representatives from the other five GMS countries to exchange experiences and lessons from biodiversity conservation work in transboundary landscapes.
11th Climate Change Roundtable Meeting
Natural Capital Dialogue
Increasing Investments in Natural Capital in the Greater Mekong Subregion
The Natural Capital Dialogue brought together senior GMS government officials, international experts and a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the significance of natural capital in the context of inclusive and sustainable development in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Occurring ahead of the 4th GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting (EMM4), the Natural Capital Dialogue presented an important opportunity to draw public and business sector attention to the need to increase investments in the Subregion’s natural capital.
Youth Environment Meeting
Theme: Investing in Natural Capital is Investing in Youth
Overview
As emphasized in the Future We Want outcome document from Rio+20, youth are “custodians of the future” and have an essential role in helping achieve sustainable development. If engaged and empowered, GMS youth have the potential to drive the changes needed to ensure a sustainable future for their own and future generations.
Fourth Greater Mekong Subregion Environment Ministers’ Meeting (EMM4)
Every three years, environment ministers from the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries gather to take stock of environment challenges and opportunities, and set the direction for regional responses under the GMS Economic Cooperation Program.
Biodiversity Landscapes Forum
Theme: Designing mechanisms and building partnerships for the strategic planning and management of transboundary and other biodiversity landscapes
Overview
Biodiversity landscapes constitute a large proportion of the natural capital remaining in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). They are a rich repository of globally important biodiversity, including many endemic and endangered species, and provide vital ecosystem services. This wealth of natural capital underpins the subregion’s security in terms of energy, food, and water. Seven of these landscapes cut across international borders. These transboundary biodiversity landscapes (TBLs), which are the focus of the GMS Core Environment Program, lie in juxtaposition to the GMS economic corridors, providing both challenges and opportunities for their effective management and conservation.
Natural Capital Business Forum
Theme: Investing in Natural Capital: Public Private Cooperation for Future Prosperity in the Greater Mekong Subregion
Overview
The Fourth GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting emphasized the need to strengthen collaboration between governments, development partners, business sector, and civil society in order to find ways to maintain and enhance the region’s natural capital stocks. A key step was the need to strengthen collaboration and coordination between businesses, government, and/or civil society in ways that are demonstrably good for business, local livelihoods and for the protection and enhancement of the subregion’s natural capital. In this context the Natural Capital Business Forum engaged the businesses in their capacity as a beneficiary of public sector investments as well as the investors in economic activities associated with natural capital.
Climate Integrated Management of Transboundary Landscapes (2015–2016)
Transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS are rich in natural capital, but are increasingly under threat from development and climate change pressures, leading to environmental degradation and more vulnerable local communities.
Regional Consultation on Transboundary Biodiversity Landscapes
Government and international organization representatives attended a two-meeting organized by EOC to explore collaboration opportunities for improving the management of Transboundary Biodiversity Landscapes (TBLs) in the GMS.
Workshop on Ecosystem-based Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation
The Core Environment Program (CEP) supported Viet Nam’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to host the regional workshop: “Mainstreaming ecosystem-based approaches to climate change into biodiversity conservation planning in Viet Nam.”
Risk financing for climate resilience (2013-2015)
Rural households and communities in the GMS employ a wide range of strategies to minimize the impact of climatic shocks. These include crop and labor diversification, personal savings, investments in semi-liquid assets such as livestock, and informal risk pooling arrangements among peers.
Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Project (2011 onwards)
One of the major successes of CEP Phase I was the scaling up of its biodiversity conservation corridor pilot work. In 2011, ADB approved grants and loans worth $69 million for Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam under a new project to further engage local communities in the sustainable management of important biodiversity landscapes.
Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in GMS rural communities
Rural communities in the GMS are particularly vulnerable to climate change. While there is considerable indigenous knowledge within communities on managing climate-related risks, understanding how a community’s vulnerability profile will change from climate and non-climate risks is essential for empowering local people to develop strategies for a climate-resilient future.
Cambodia: Eastern Plains BCI Pilot Site (2006 to 2009)
This biodiversity conservation corridor pilot area connects four protected areas in Mondulkiri province, Cambodia. Covering 50,000 hectares, the area is rich in forest resources, and is also home to many regionally threatened mammals and birds.
Cambodia: Cardamom Mountains BCI Pilot Site (2006 to 2009)
This biodiversity conservation corridor pilot site in the southwest of Cambodia covers 936,522 hectares in three provinces. The area is rich in forest resources, and is also home to many regionally threatened mammals and birds.
Cao Bang – Guangxi Transboundary Corridor Pilot Site, Viet Nam and PR China (2009 onwards)
This pilot site aims to enhance biodiversity connectivity between Bangliang Nature Reserve in Jingxi County of Guangxi Province and the adjacent Trung Khanh Nature Resrve in Cao Bang Province, Viet Nam. The establishment of a transboundary biodiversity corridor, with a protected core zone and sustainable use zone with agriculture, will provide an optimal habitat for wildlife, as well as the co-existence of human beings.
Lao PDR: Xe Pian – Dong Hua Sao BCI Pilot Site (2006 to 2009)
This biodiversity conservation corridor pilot sire in the south of Lao PDR covers a 32,000 hectare strip of land in Champasak Province, between the Dong Hua Sao and Xe Pian national protected areas.
Thailand: Tenasserim BCI Pilot Site (2007 onwards)
This biodiversity conservation corridor is located in the Tenasserim Range in western Thailand, between the Western Forest Complex and the Kaeng Krachan Complex. To the west, the corridor borders forested areas in Myanmar.
Viet Nam: Ngoc Linh-Xe Sap BCI site (2006 to 2009)
Biodiversity conservation corridors at this pilot site cover 130,827 hectares in Quang Nam and Quang Tri provinces. The corridors include part the Central Annamite mountains – ranked as a ‘critically important’ landscape due to the unique variety of species that inhabit this area.
Xishuangbanna BCI Pilot Site, Yunnan, PR China (2007 onwards)
The Xishuangbanna biodiversity conservation corridors pilot site is located in southern Yunnan and stretches down to the border with Lao PDR. Of the eight corridors identified, CEP has focused activities in two (Nabanhe to Mangao and Mengla to Shangyong), the latter of which includes a transboundary nature reserve that is home to a wild elephant population.