The International Day for Biodiversity is a yearly opportunity to foster greater awareness and understanding of the boundless wonders of nature and all of its benefits. It’s a day to remind everyone to protect, restore, share benefits fairly, and to invest and collaborate for our diverse web of life. 

Two years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework or the now called Biodiversity Plan, the ASEAN region is poised to launch its own ASEAN Biodiversity Plan to help contribute to the achievement of the 4 goals and 23 targets as agreed by all parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022. With this regional biodiversity strategy and action plan, the ASEAN Member States, with the support of the ACB, identified actionable measures to address biodiversity loss, while at the same time delivering natural solutions to climate change, disasters, and emerging diseases that continue to threaten the livelihoods and well-being of ASEAN communities. The effective implementation of this biodiversity-sensitive sustainability plan for the region requires a whole-of-society approach, multistakeholder partnerships and stronger cooperation among the ASEAN Member States.  

We recognise that sustainability cannot be achieved by a single sector and that biodiversity is key to resilience, and for ASEAN, our means to lasting prosperity. Hence, we are doubling our efforts to integrate biodiversity considerations into the plans and processes of various sectors and segments, such as agriculture, tourism, youth, health, business, and education, among others, as the main approach of ASEAN to achieve multiple benefits for the planet.

In these challenging times for our planet, it is important to encourage everyone to join the call inorder to translate the global agreements into action. Governments, local communities, non-government organisations, businesses, indigenous peoples, women, youth, and all individuals have their own unique roles to play to make living in harmony with nature possible by 2050 and beyond!