26 February to 1 March 2024
Nairobi, Kenya
1. The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is honoured to participate for the first time at this 6th Meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly as one of its newly-accredited intergovernmental organisations. We thank and congratulate Kenya and the UNEP for these excellent arrangements at UNEA-6.
2. Since the creation of the ACB by the 10 Member States of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations or the ASEAN in 2005, it has been facilitating and strengthening regional action in Southeast Asia towards delivering the goals of the CBD, and in the process, also achieving the targets set by other multilateral environmental agreements.
3. Thus, we welcome the significant strides that are being taken by UNEA to highlight synergies among MEAs as we grapple with the triple planetary crisis. Being the ASEAN region’s centre for excellence for biodiversity, the ACB appreciates MEA synergies as an opportunity for expanding partnerships and maximising resources to achieve multiple objectives.
4. After all, our solutions are intertwined, as we intensify our concerted actions, consistent with the ties that bind us across international frameworks. By fostering cooperation among the ASEAN Member States and with our dialogue and development partners, as well as other stakeholders, including the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities, women, and the youth, the ACB, as a regional IGO, contributes to multilateralism and the ASEAN’s whole-of-community approach.
5. Part of our collective efforts in the ASEAN Region is the ACB’s facilitation of the development of the Regional Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan or the “ASEAN Biodiversity Plan,” which will support the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework and NBSAPs, scale up national action at the regional level, and take into account ASEAN’s common priorities, such as mainstreaming biodiversity across development sectors, the promotion of nature-based solutions to climate change, including the restoration and conservation of mangroves and peatlands, resource mobilisation, capacity enhancement and technology transfer, and developing regional indicators for monitoring and evaluation.
6. As the region enhances connectivity and resilience through Lao PDR’s Chairship of ASEAN this year, we are emboldened by partnerships – among MEAs and among us – to effectively respond to the urgent demands of the times. The ACB remains a steadfast contributor and partner towards a healthier planet and a better future for all.
