ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

Description

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity is an intergovernmental organisation that coordinates biodiversity conservation across the eleven ASEAN Member States.

It facilitates cooperation among member states and with regional and international organisations on conserving and sustainably using biological diversity, and on fairly sharing the benefits that arise from it. Its roots go back to 1998, when member states set up the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation with European Union funding. Environmental ministers agreed to establish the Centre itself in 2005, building on that earlier project.

The Centre supports science based decision making and policymaking on biodiversity, builds the capacity of ASEAN countries to conserve and manage biodiversity, and works to mainstream biodiversity into ASEAN development processes. It manages programmes such as the ASEAN Heritage Parks network, the ASEAN Green Initiative and the ASEAN NbS Platform, and takes part in initiatives on One Health, ecosystem restoration and marine protected area management. A Governing Board made up of ASEAN senior environment officials oversees the Centre, with technical guidance from the ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity, and an Executive Director leads day to day operations.

The Centre is hosted by the Philippines and based at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.