Regional: Protecting and Investing in Natural Capital in Asia and the Pacific

Agriculture and Natural Resources / Agriculture, natural resources and rural development

1. Promoting nature-based solutions for flood-risk management in Indonesia and the Philippines

2. Building business case for bamboo in Yangtze River Economic Belt, People's Republic of China

3. Addressing illegal wildlife trading in the Philippines

4. Introducing eco-sensitive design for smart green road/rail transportation in Nepal and Bhutan

5. Assessing basin-scale ecosystem conditions and water quality in Ravi River in Pakistan, using remote sensing techniques

6. Valuing ecosystem services in New Clark City, Philippines

Business-case for natural capital investments established

Investments in natural capital prepared

Capacity to address illegal wildlife crime enhanced

Knowledge and capacity for natural capital investment strengthened.

Currently we are working to promote flood risk management by integrating nature-based solutions within six river basins in the Philippines as well as supporting the government of Indonesia in integrating nature-based solutions in national policies and infrastructure design. We are also conducting biodiversity assessment and monitoring, ecological profiling and rapid ecosystem services assessment in New Clark City to be incorporated into the project design. The TA is also supporting eco-sensitive road design in Nepal including capacity development on sustainable eco-sensitive infrastructure planning and design to protect natural habitats and biodiversity in partnership with the Wildlife Institute of India, monitoring and evaluating effectiveness of wildlife collision prevention in Bhutan, business case for landscape restoration in Yangtze River in the People's Republic of China and addressing environmental degradation based on ecosystem assessment with remote sensing application in Ravi River in Pakistan. The TA is also addressing illegal wildlife trading in the Philippines focusing on policy, law, capacity development, and public awareness of the impacts of biodiversity and ecosystems loss through the trade in illegal wildlife including demand reduction measures for threatened species.

The completed knowledge products and capacity building activities for natural capital investment are listed below:

1. Greening the Transport Sector through Smart Plans and Eco-Friendly Designs Workshop- 18 May 2018 in Durban, South Africa.

2. Co-organized the session with WWF on Sustainable Infrastructure: Building a global movement and innovations to avoiding deforestation and biodiversity loss from infrastructure investments - 24 June 2018 Da Nang, Viet Nam.

3. Nature Based Approaches to Designing Transport Infrastructure Workshop - 14 September 2018 as part of the ADB Transport Forum 2018 in Manila, Philippines.

4. Co-organized the session on Sustainable Infrastructure Day at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 14th Conference of Parties in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to support CBD's agenda of mainstreaming biodiversity into our development process - November 2018.

5. Launched the ADB-GEF funded Illegal Wildlife Trade: Combatting Environmental Crime in the Philippines project in Clark, Pampanga as part of the 2nd National Wildlife Enforcement Summit - November 2018.

6. National Inception/Planning Workshop and 1st Organizational Meeting on ADB-GEF funded Illegal Wildlife Trade: Combatting Environmental Crime in the Philippines project 21-22 February 2019 in Manila, Philippines.

7. Co-organized sessions for the 7th International Conference on Eco-Compensation and Payments for Ecosystem December 2018 in Huangshan, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.

8. Published knowledge products on protecting and enhancing natural ecosystems and biodiversity include Managing the Perfect Storm: How Healthy Ecosystems Increase Resilience, Declining Natural Capital: High Stakes for Asia and the Pacific and The war against wildlife is a war against ourselves.