DIPLOMATS, local government officials and cyclists cruised around Los Baños, Laguna on December 2 to celebrate the 45 years of relations between the European Union (EU) and Asean.
Ambassador Luc Véron led the bike tour, called “Bike45Ride,” where he was joined by Vice-Chancellor Roberto Cereno of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, Mayor Anthony Genuino and Executive Director Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), together with envoys and other representatives of both regions’ countries.
“This bike tour [was a prelude to the first meeting of the leaders of the EU and Asean member-states’…gathering in Brussels for a commemorative summit on December 14], which will be attended by…President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” confirmed Véron.
The bike ride, he said, was also a concrete way to underscore the importance of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions to achieve the goal of keeping global warming under 1.5-degrees Celsius.
“The environment and climate change are important areas of cooperation between the two regions, and of the EU’s approach toward the Indo-Pacific,” Véron added.
The cycling meet was held in collaboration with the ACB, UP-Los Baños, Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems, the provincial government of Laguna, and city government of Los Baños.
Prior to the event the EU handed over bike racks to the local UP community. Bikers were also scheduled to plant trees at the Makiling Botanic Garden, with hopes to further drumbeat the importance of environment protection.
The tree planting was also in accordance with the EU’s “ForOurPlanet Campaign,” which aims to join forces across the globe to take action on the ground #ForNature and the climate, according to the EU Delegation to the Philippines.
The region-wide Bike45Ride was launched in Jakarta, Indonesia in August 2022 as a joint effort to promote a sustainable and greener future by encouraging more people to switch to more environment-friendly modes of transportation.
Asean Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi and EU Ambassador to Asean Igor Driesmans officially launched Bike45Ride. Representatives of the two regions marked the event with a symbolic ride from the Asean Secretariat’s Headquarters to the premises of the EU Delegation in Jakarta.
Aside from the 7-kilometer bike ride on December 2, ambassadors and other diplomats, as well as local government officials, took part in a tree-growing activity at the Makiling Botanic Gardens.
Testament to their shared goal of promoting the conservation and sustainable use of the region’s biodiversity, the ACB and the EU are currently working on a joint initiative on protected areas: the “Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in Asean” project.
Image credits: Twitter: @EUINTHEPH