‘Biodiversity is an environmental concern that knows no boundaries.” Thus said Theresa Mundita S. Lim, the former director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), at her inaugural speech as the new executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).
The mild-mannered official blazed the trail in biodiversity conservation in the DENR-BMB, which is primarily responsible for the management of the Philippines’s environment and natural resources.
Having served the DENR for almost three decades, she is now on her much-challenging role, taking her advocacy to greater heights at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as the new head of ACB, which is being hosted by the Philippines and based in Los Baños, Laguna.
ACB turnover
At the ACB turnover and oath-taking ceremonies at ACB headquarters in Los Baños on April 17, Atty. Roberto V. Oliva, the outgoing ACB executive director, in his final speech said: “The threats to biodiversity continue. We cannot rest. We have made significant steps in combatting biodiversity loss. Let us keep moving forward and seize the moment.”
“It is hard for me to do justice to all that he has achieved during his term,” remarked Giovanni Serritella, attaché manager for Environment and Climate Change of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, during the ceremony.
“Mr. Oliva leaves a huge legacy behind, a legacy of an Asean Centre for Biodiversity that transformed over the years. From a project into an agency and, under his leadership, into a sustainable institution,” Serritella continued.
Representing Dato Sri Azizan bin Ahmad, Dr. Megat Sany, Malaysia’s secretary-general of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Asean Senior Officials on the Environment chairman and chairman of the ACB Governing Board, expressed his gratitude to Oliva and welcomed the new executive director.
“Simply, the fate of Asean biodiversity rests in your hands. We look up to your directions of putting the Centre at venues on which it will rise up against challenges and put to work solutions for the myriad of environmental problems that beset us. On behalf of the 10 Asean member-states, we commit our support to your leadership as the new ACB executive director,” Megat said.
Dr. Vong Sok, assistant director for the Environment Division of Asean Socio-Cultural Community, Asean Secretariat, also extended his congratulations to Lim.
“We firmly believe in your capability, given your previous experience and familiarity with the issue of nature conservation and biodiversity in Asean and global fora. We are confident that you can carry the torch with your passion and commitment.”
To formally turnover the ACB’s leadership, Oliva handed a symbolic key to Lim. It was followed by the oath-taking ceremony officiated by Megat.
The ceremonies were attended by Philippine and Asean officials and ACB’s local and foreign partners.
Building on ACB’s gains
In her inaugural speech, Lim paid tribute to the former ACB directors, particularly the late Rodrigo Fuentes, the first ACB head, “for planting the seeds that paved the way for the growth of ACB.”
“[Former] ACB Directors Rodrigo Fuentes and Oliva have set the standards. As such, I will build on the gains of our two leaders, introduce innovations and endeavor to steer ACB to greater heights,” she said.
“Biodiversity is an environmental concern that knows no boundaries. What happens to the biodiversity in the Philippines, or in Malaysia, or in Thailand, or in any Asean member-state, would affect the entire Asean region and the world, as Asean is home to 18 percent of the world’s known species,” she added. “Our national conservation strategies are not enough to arrest the serious threat of biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia.”
The ACB will be the Asean’s tool in leveraging human, financial, intellectual and material resources to forge a concerted regional effort on biodiversity conservation, she said.
‘10-Point Thrusts’
In her speech, Lim bared her “10-Point Thrusts” as ACB executive director.
She said there is a need to revisit ACB’s long- and short-term plans to ensure that they are meeting the needs of Asean member-states, and to ensure that the benefits from biodiversity will be better felt in the region and by its people.
ACB will also work with the development sector and link with like-minded development organizations and individuals in the region to leverage resources and avoid duplication of efforts.
The ACB, she said, will help the Asean member-states in consolidating their efforts to achieve the Asean Community Vision 2025 and the Asean Integration.
“As part of the Asean Vision and Integration processes, ACB will strive to make biodiversity considerations relevant in Asean discussions and policy- and decision-making on trade, commerce, health, food and agriculture, tourism, transport, energy, climate change, poverty reduction, infrastructure, and even on peace and security.
“If we are able to do this, we can contribute significantly to achieving the Asean Vision and Integration, thus further unifying and strengthening the efforts of Asean member-states in conserving the region’s biodiversity for the benefit of Asean,” she noted.
She said the ACB would endeavor to create more meaningful private-sector partnerships by engaging the business community and demonstrating that biodiversity is good for business.
She added the center would also reach out to the youth and education sectors.
“We will study the feasibility of creating centers of excellence in biodiversity education, including a scholarship program for youth champions in Asean,” she said.
Under her watch, Lim said the ACB would take the lead in a strong advocacy to push and facilitate the interface of science and policy.
“While science provides answers to questions about the world and how it works, scientific knowledge and their practical applications are, unfortunately, difficult to explain. We need to provide a venue for scientists and policy-makers to understand each other and, eventually, work together,” she said. According to her, ACB will closely work with the host country, the Philippines, to further strengthen its capacity to conserve the country’s biodiversity.
She said she will promote transparency in governance to ensure that all resources poured in by the Asean member-states and ACB partners are well accounted for.
Passing the torch
On April 16 Lim stepped down as director of the BMB, a position she held for more than 14 years, and passed on torch to the BMB’s Assistant Director Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez.
Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, in his speech during the simple turnover ceremony at the DENR-BMB office, praised his outgoing official, noting her significant accomplishments and congratulating her “for ably leading the conservation battle for many years.
“You surmounted great challenges, including difficult bosses and colleagues, too, especially from FMB [Forest Management Bureau] and MGB [Mines and Geosciences Bureau]. The Asean Center for Biodiversity is very lucky to have your services next,” Cimatu said.
As for the new DENR-BMB chief, who started her career in the DENR as a forester only in 2005, Cimatu vowed to give his full support.
“I assure you of my full support. I am sure that the BMB will again be in capable hands, given your boundless energy and innovative mind. You have arrived just at the right time,” he said.
Accomplishments
Cimatu noted Lim holds the record of serving the longest time as chief of agency, having “survived” nine environment secretaries before him.
“She is certainly not among the threatened or endangered species,” Cimatu said jokingly.
He noted Lim was instrumental in increasing the budgetary allocation for biodiversity conservation from the national government to as much as 70 percent in the last six years.
“She spearheaded the development of policy frameworks on key conservation measures, such as biodiversity-friendly business enterprises, the National Ecotourism Strategy, the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the expanded Nipas [National Integrated Protected Areas System] bill,” Cimatu said.
Moreover, Cimatu added the official established close linkages with academe, such as the University of the Philippines Institute of Biology, the UP-Marine Science Institute and the Siliman University, to address biodiversity-research needs.
“She maintained excellent working relationships with other government agencies, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], the private sector, the press and communities in the implementation of agency programs and projects,” he said. Lim is the current chairman of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the international Convention on Biological Diversity.
She negotiated and provided inputs to several treaties—such as the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Treaty for Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction.
Lim may have bid farewell to the BMB and the DENR with her early retirement, but not with a heavy heart because her passion and advocacy for biodiversity continues as ACB executive director, taking over from its retired chief Roberto V. Oliva starting on April 17.
Welcome development
Environmental advocates welcomed Lim’s designation to ACB. Joel Palma, president and CEO of the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines said she has been a steadfast ally for biodiversity conservation at the DENR.
“Her new role at the regional level would provide greater influence to put forward the conservation agenda of the Asean scale,” Palma said in a statement sent to the BusinessMirror via e-mail on April 17.
Vince Cinches, ocean campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, commended Lim for her role as BMB director. He said Greenpeace expects her to take on her new role at the ACB.
“We would like to commend [Director Lim] for her role as BMB director. They [Lim and BMB officials and staff] were able to pursue its mandate in saving the country’s remaining biodiversity. We are also expecting the same from her side as she assumes a new role at ACB,” Cinches added.
He noted Lim’s stint at the BMB was a good training ground for her as she goes into a more regional role and scope.
“The region’s biodiversity is already suffering from illegal trade, deforestation, pollution and overfishing, among others. We are expecting her to take the lead in partnering with key offices and actors in making sure that our biodiversity is sustained,” he said.
AA Yaptinchay of the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines (MWWP) said: “Dr. Lim’s work has always been dedicated to biodiversity conservation. Her departure from BMB [and transfer] to ACB is a welcome change, without so much ‘change,’ as the issues remain the same, although her scope now will be at the regional level.”
He said MWWP fully supports Lim’s move and looks forward to supporting and working with her in the future.
For his part, Gregg Yan, a noted environmentalist and the founder of Best Alternatives, said: “Who is better to champion the conservation and sustainable management of the Asean’s flora and fauna than Dr. Lim?”
“Her passion and drive, coupled with her strong local and global ties, can turn the tide in the war to save our region’s forests, rivers, lakes and seas,” he said.
‘Mass extinction’
Yan noted Lim’s designation is timely, noting that a global study released in 2016 revealed how the population of vertebrates like mammals, birds, reptiles and fish plummeted by 58 percent between 1970 and 2012.
“This is exactly like a mass-extinction event. Consider that some of the most critically endangered animals are found in the Asean. The Philippines alone hosts the world’s most endangered buffalo, crocodile, eagle, the tamaraw, Philippine crocodile and haring ibon [Philippine eagle],” Yan said.
According to Yan, with Lim at the helm of ACB, he hopes that the people who live with and depend most on wildlife—rangers, indigenous communities, kampong (indigenous people’s villages in Southeast Asia), barangays and local government units—will get the boost they need to form a strong frontline against extinction.
DENR’s vet
Lim, 54, a veterinarian, is one of a very few women who excelled in her career in the DENR, a world dominated by men.
She completed her degree in Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1988 and worked as veterinarian at the Veterinary Services and Consultancy Center.
Her private practice was short-lived when she joined the DENR in December 1989, and became part of the Pawikan Conservation Program from 1989 to 1990.
Along with other DENR employees, Lim was stationed on the Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi province, doing research, fieldwork and developing policies for the conservation of endangered marine turtles.
For three years, from 1990 to 1993, she was the veterinarian of the Wildlife Rescue Center of the DENR-BMB, which was then known as the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).
Lim was subsequently designated as its officer in charge until 1999. In August 1999 she was named assistant director of the DENR-PAWB until she was appointed as its director in 2003.
ACB is response to biodiversity loss
In response to the challenge of biodiversity loss, the Asean established ACB in 2005.
It is an intergovernmental organization that facilitates cooperation and coordination among the 10 Asean member-states and with regional and international organizations on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of such natural treasures.
ACB traces its beginnings in 1998 when the Asean established the Asean Regional Centre for Biodiversity (ARCBC) Project with funding support from the European Union (EU), according to the ACB’s web site.
The project was implemented with two key objectives: intensify biodiversity conservation and promote institutional networking among Asean countries, and between the group and the EU partner organizations.
The ARCBC Project was viewed as a productive flagship project. It led the environmental ministers of the Asean to see the need to create an institution that would sustain the gains of the ARCBC Project. Thus, the ACB was created.
The ACB implements the Asean Heritage Park Programme, which aims to recognize and help strengthen the protection and conservation of protected areas in Southeast Asia.
The Asean Heritage Parks represent the “best of the best” national parks in the region.
Image credits: ACB photo