CTC Executive Director Rili Djohani and Marine Conservation Adviser Marthen Welly recently attended the 2nd Asia Parks Congress held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from May 24-28, 2022. The Congress was a gathering of Asia’s protected area practitioners and brought together leaders and decision-makers from government, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, business, and academia from Asia and around the world. The conference’s theme was “Parks for Nature and People,” emphasizing the relationship between nature and society. Attended by around 800 people, the 2nd Asia Parks Congress is a landmark event which will help set the agenda for protected areas in Asia for the next ten years.

Ms Djohani presented on the Coral Triangle Initiative for Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (history, challenges, and opportunities) during the plenary on ‘Connectivity & Transboundary Conservation’ while Mr. Welly and Ms Djohani jointly presented at the ‘Effective Protected & Conserved Areas’ Working Group, focusing efforts to scale up capacity building in the Coral Triangle towards the 30 x 30 goal. They also presented about strengthening management effectiveness in Nusa Penida and Atauro Island MPAs in the Lesser-Sunda Seascape. 

Dr. Kathy MacKinnon, Co-Chair of the 2nd APC International Steering Committee, and CTC’s scientific advisory board member, was also at the conference. Apart from chairing a plenary session, she also participated in a side event that discussed other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs). OECMs are expected to allow a wider variety of human land-uses and interactions with the natural environment than are found in many parks and other protected areas.

Over 1,250 delegates from 49 countries participated in the Congress which was jointly convened by Sabah Parks, Malaysia and IUCN, in one of the most diverse natural and cultural regions of the world. It was one of the first large, environmental gatherings to be held in Asia since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Congress identified the priorities for the next decade to strengthen systems of protected and conserved areas across the region, and to contribute to the achievement of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework being negotiated under the Convention on Biological Diversity.