Asean parks meet slated

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje: Philippine delegation head. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is hosting the 4th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Heritage Parks Conference (AHP), which will see 300 delegates, biodiversity experts and scientists tackle ecosystem degradation and the preservation of the Asean region’s natural heritage.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje will lead the Philippine delegation to the conference spearheaded by the Asean Center for Biodiversity (ACB) in Tagaytay City on Oct. 1-4.

The conference stakeholders come from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

ACB executive director Roberto Oliva said there were currently 33 AHPs in Southeast Asia, five of them in the Philippines—Mt. Apo Natural Park, Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park and Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park, all in Mindanao; and Mt. Iglit-Baco and the newest, Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, both Luzon.

The Asean Declaration on Heritage Parks was signed by the environment ministers of the 10 Asean member states in December 2003 in Yangon establishing the AHP Program to promote greater collaboration in the region in the management of the parks.—Jeannette I. Andrade