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Inception Workshop for the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative in the Greater Mekong Subregion

The Inception Workshop for the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) was conducted on 17 February 2005 at the ADB Headquarters in Manila, Philippines.

The primary outputs of the workshop are the updated draft discussion paper on the GMS BCI Strategic Approaches and Priorities and preliminary agreement on institutional arrangements and partners, institutional support to be provided, and potential sites.

On 16 February, a pre-workshop dialogue with partners was held between ADB staff and representatives of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), IUCN-The World Conservation Union, United Nations Environment Program Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP RRC.AP), Fauna and Flora International (FFI), and Mekong River Commission (MRC). The role of partners at strategic and implementation levels and partnership modalities for GMS BCI implementation were discussed.

On 18 February, discussions continued with the post-workshop consultations. In the first session with country representatives and consultants, agreements were reached on the schedule and details of the field missions to the five countries. WWF, IUCN, UNEP RRC.AP, FFI, and MRC joined the last session where deliberations revolved around transboundary issues, information sharing across borders, standard management practices and monitoring-evaluation procedures, and undertaking joint/exchange visits.

The assembly concluded with the participants gearing up for the initial field missions to the five countries scheduled from 4 March to 18 April 2005 and the second consultation workshop on 26-27 April 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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For participants to:

• Review the draft Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) paper
• Identify and elaborate upon potential biodiversity corridors in the GMS partner countries and pilot sites
• Identify and agree on institutional inputs and support required for the preparatory phase (20 Feb-15 May 2005) for developing the Strategic Framework (2005-2014) and Action Plan (2005-2008)
• Update some biodiversity, institutional, and spatial data (GIS), where required

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• Agreement on potential sites
• Field visit arrangements to sites
• Agreement on institutional support to be provided
• Agreement on institutional arrangements and partners

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There were over 50 participants from Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, People’s Republic of China, Thailand, and Viet Nam as well as various bilateral, multilateral, and nongovernment institutions. These participants were representatives of national government agencies, national consultants with expertise in biodiversity and in policy/institutional/legal matters, bilateral/multilateral donors with interests in the BCI, NGOs working on conservation efforts in the GMS, and other development partners.

View the directory of participants. [ PDF: 226kb | 5 pages ]

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The Inception Workshop for the GMS BCI was conducted on 17 February 2005 at the ADB Headquarters in Manila, Philippines. The primary outputs of the workshop were the updated draft discussion paper on the GMS BCI Strategic Approaches and Priorities and preliminary agreement on institutional arrangements and partners, institutional support to be provided, and potential sites.

MKAE Director C.R. Rajendran opened and closed the workshop with key messages to the country and development partners. The workshop concluded with the participants gearing up for the initial field missions to the five countries on 4 March to 18 April 2005 and the consultation workshop on 26-27 April 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand.

There were pre-workshop consultations with development partners on the role of partners and partner modalities as well as post-workshop consultations with country representatives and consultants on the details of the field missions to the five project countries. Discussions in the last session revolved around transboundary issues, information sharing across borders, standard management practices and monitoring-evaluation procedures, and undertaking joint/exchange visits.

For Cambodia, a key issue was how to promote integrated planning over the corridor areas including generating and sharing information between government agencies. The BCI needs to identify and overcome the obstacles to information consistency and sharing, to build capacity in information management, and to promote integrated planning across the corridors.

The Cambodia working group proposed that the criteria for selecting potential sites should include: opportunity to build upon existing government commitment and project activity and initiative; where there is a good body of existing data on socio-economic and biodiversity factors; and where there is a GMS economic corridor major development proposed which would have significant effects on biodiversity.

The Lao PDR working group identified the potential sites as Xe Pian-Dong Hua Sao-Dong Ampham in the Cambodia-Lao-Viet Nam Triborder, Xe Xap in the Central Annamites, and Khammouane and Nam Kading in the Northern Annamites.

On the institutional arrangements, the PRC working group proposed that there will be a separate Working Group (Steering Committee) for the BCI, with the GMS Working Group on Environment (WGE) providing guidance.

The Thailand working group proposed three potential sites for the BCI: the Western Forest Complex, Dongpayayen – Khao Yai Forest Complex, and the Eastern Forest Complex.

The Viet Nam working group proposed four options for selection of pilot sites: Cat Tien National Park–Dong Nai River landscape, North Annamites limestone landscape, Central Annamites (green corridor), and Central Annamites landscape (Kon Ka Kinh to Ngoc Linh).

There were over 50 participants from the five (5) project countries as well as various bilateral, multilateral, and nongovernment institutions. These participants were representatives of national government agencies, national consultants with expertise in biodiversity and in policy/institutional/legal matters, bilateral/multilateral donors with interests in the BCI, NGOs working on conservation efforts in the GMS, and other development partners.