Summary Report
7th AP-BON Workshop
7th AP-BON Workshop was held as a special session of the “ASEAN Conference on
Biodiversity 2016” in Bangkok, Thailand as below:
Date： 19 -20 February, 2016
Venue： 1) Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre, Lotus Suite 9, 22nd floor(19 February)
2) Centara Watergate Pavilion Hotel Bangkok, Grand Pavilion, 9th floor(20 February)
Participants: 27 persons from 11 countries<Objectives>
The 7th AP-BON workshop will bring together the members of APBON steering committeeand representatives of key organizations who have the mandate to conduct biodiversity
observations. They will discuss the means to promote data sharing in the region as well as
knowledge management products to enhance generation, organization, and sharing ofinformation. Discussions cover:
1. Presentations of biodiversity research and assessment activities, country and regional
reports
2. Results of IPBES regional and global biodiversity assessments
3. Status and updates on biodiversity trends in the Asia-Pacific Region
4. Review and revision of APBON products including red list, data papers and otherproposals
5. Data sharing arrangements; and6. Governance of the APBON＜Summary of the Proceedings＞
Day 1 (19 Feb.)
AP-BON Co-Chairs and Mr. Ryuji Nakayama, director, Biodiversity Center of Japan, MOE
gave the opening speeches, followed by presentation and discussion among the participants.

1. AB-BON Introduction
Dr. Eun-Shik Kim (Kookmin University)
・AP-BON is needed to spread its activities in the ASEAN region. The history of AP-BON
recognized the efforts of the MOEJ on the conduct of several AP-BON activities such as COP
participation, also other BON connections: JBON, KBON.
・Key Questions for AP-BON:a. What and how is a regional network of national BONs?
b. Is there a national BON for each country: how to promote the national BONS in SEA?
c. How to strengthen the link of AP-BON and GEO BON?
・AP-BON is now on the turning point:a. IPBSES assessments have started
b. A new GEOSS Strategic Plan is being implementedc. GEOBON secretariat established in 2014
d. A core project S9 sponsored by MOEJ will end in March 2016
・As an example of national BON: KBON activities has three WGs in charge of monitoring withcivil scientists, species distribution modeling, and international joint research.
・Strengthening cooperation of network of national BON is required, and this is directly related
to the development of the AP-BON.
2. Biodiversity Research Activities in Thailand
Dr. Dokrak Marod (Kasertsart University)
Dr. Tetsukazu Yahara (Kyusyu University)
・On transects along Thailand at several altitudes of the National Parks, we collected plant
specimens and took pictures then identified the specimens using DNA sequences. Species
richness increases in higher altitudes. A total of 5,375 specimens have been tabulated andscanned images of each specimen can be shared for identifying species in the Southeast Asia
regions, and Picture Guides will be developed.
・In Thailand, we are providing Training program for Training of Trainers (TOTs) especially foryouth scientists specializing on plant and wildlife taxonomy. The government emphasizes
participation in international activities like IPBES and the use of the IUCN Red List tocategorize threat status of species.
(Discussions)Dr. Freyhof: It is very important to establish a national BON in Thailand. When you takethese plant samples and sequence them, there is a big challenge to follow the Access andBenefit-Sharing (ABS) regulation. We would like to work together in a fair way.
Dr. Yahara: Collaboration with ESABII, as they made a lot of effort to train additional
researches on taxonomy, should be useful to organize ESABII workshop.
Dr. Fernando: ESABII has organized training courses on taxonomy in collaboration withACB and JAIF. We are developing field guides on these and we hope that ESABII can put
together a workshop in future.
Dr. Yahara: At the global level there are some isolated mechanisms. AP-BON should be aplatform to integrate all activities at the national level to contribute to these global
mechanisms: CBD, GEO BON, IPBES and Future Earth.
Dr. Sakaguchi: Information data from AP-BON can be used by IPBES regional assessments,
especially Chapter 3.
3. Biodiversity in Malaysia
Dr. Faridah-Hanum Ibrahim (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
・Malaysia is one of the mega diverse countries in Southeast Asia and has 14 types of rain
forests and 2.4 million hectares of tropical peat lands. Its biodiversity cuts across borders.
There are several conservation efforts: increasing area of protected area, rehabilitation /reintroduction of wildlife, monitoring, public awareness, etc. Major drivers of change tobiodiversity: demand for palm oil, coastal pollution, wood industry sector, building sector
especially marble and limestone, ecotourism sector, changes in temperature and precipitation,
politician commitment, etc.
(Discussions)
Dr. Ibrahim: Some state governments are not so easy to convince on conservation. Awarenessneed to be developed specially for politicians and policy makers. That would be more
effective to implement strategic biodiversity plan. Ecosystem monitoring in Malaysia isdone by FRIM every 5 years. We have a lot of data but integrating them is the problem.
Dr. Freyhof: There are discussions at what to monitor at national level in Europe. Countries inmega diverse regions are falling behind on these discussions. National biodiversity
monitoring schemes will be one of the topics in the GEO BON this year, and it may be
worth investing to attend and inform us what you do.
Dr. Keping: Most of the national BONs do not know what we should monitor. So AP-BON
should take on the activity on promoting what should be flagged.
Dr. Yahara: Each country has its own monitoring and it is important to continue this system.
To detect changes, we have to establish a state – standardization, and continuation ofmonitoring – these are important.

4. Progress in IPBES global assessment
Dr. Tetsukazu Yahara (Kyushu University)
Dr. Yoshihisa Shirayama (JAMSTEC)
・AP-BON can contribute to IPBES regional assessment specially on Chapter 3. The summaryof national red lists, states of conservation areas, and ecosystem trends are needed withimpressive and comprehensive figures. Compiling AP-BON Book 4 “States and changes of
biodiversity and ecosystems in the Asia-Pacific region” will significantly help on this, soplease consider some proposal how such types of data can be included in this book.
・Timeline of global assessment of IPBES is from February 2016 to 2nd Quarter of 2019.
Results of this assessment will be the basis of the GBO5 because 2020 is the last year of theAichi Target implementation.
・Contents of the assessment：a. What are the prevailing global and trans-regional statuses of and trends in the interactions
between people and nature?
b. How do biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services contribute to theimplementation of the SDGs?
c. What progress is being made towards achieving 2020 Aichi Targets and SDGs?
5. Progress in Japanese S9 project to observe and assess biodiversity in Asia
Dr. Tetsukazu Yahara (Kyushu University)
Dr. Reiichiro Ishii (RIHN)
Dr. Yoshihisa Shirayama (JAMSTEC)
・Trends of forests are declining in Southeast Asia except Philippines and Vietnam. Woodproduction, agricultural expansions and population density have emerged as the major driversof change. Based on species richness survey, Sarawak emerged as the highest distribution ofvascular plant species. We also assessed the effects of forest change on ecosystems services
and established several scenarios on how land is used and how it affects honey production,for instance. Remote sensing data was used to detect forest cover change in the Southeast
Asia.
・Main drivers on freshwater fish biodiversity in Southeast Asia are land development, alienspecies, water pollution, oil palm plantation and hydropower dams. The criteria on
Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) was used for coastal area in thisproject, and the research on coverage of representative ecosystems and GAP analysis weredone.

(Discussions)Dr. Fernando: FAO statistics says Philippines forest is increasing but other data point to thedeforestation.
Dr. Yahara: We used other data in the book, not only FAO data. In Vietnam, forest area isincreasing but they also reported increase in forest plantations. There is debate on what
type of forests should be included in the assessment among authors of IPBES chapter 3.
What is the actual situation of forest cover in China?
Dr. Keping: We have some debate as to the actual forest cover in china.
Dr. Freyhof: Forests that have been cut down and replaced by plantation are accepted byCDB?
Dr. Yahara: Forest plantations are not usually accepted.
Dr. Fernando: Forest plantations are different structure and functions. They are very different
from natural forests.
6. BON in a Box
Dr. Jorg Freyhof (GEO BON)
・Short movie about BON in a Box was shown.
・There are three types of BONs: thematic BON which have a global coverage, national BONs
which bring national perspectives, and regional BONs which might act as an umbrella forsome national BONs. Biodiversity is observed at the national scale very much. Biodiversity issite specific and may be different from other countries, but there may be methodologies in acountry which may be applicable in other areas. BON in a BOX will facilitate this type ofexchange.
7. Discussions on Notable trends of Biodiversity in the Asia Pacific region, considering
contribution to IPBES regional assessments(Discussions)
Dr. Vergara: ASEAN Biodiversity Outlook 2 (ABO2) results reviewed national reports ofeach country.
Dr. Yahara: Dr. Vergara’s presentation on ABO2 is a very good presentation on integration.
We need to link science and social aspects. In AP-BON Book 4, we should invite socialscientists.
Dr. Fernando: Our efforts on the Red List should be included in the document. Countries are
doing the different things not using the IUCN red list. It should be a concern.
Dr. Ishii: There is an effort to make compilations of red list of NOWPOP regions. It is one of
the good examples on how to collect species.

Day 2 (20 Feb.)
8. Proposal of AP-BON Book 4 on “States and trends of biodiversity in the Asia Pacific region”
Dr. Tetsukazu Yahara (Kyushu University)
・Aims of publication:a. Providing technical reports and reviews to help IPBES regional assessments.
b. Providing new viewpoints: integration, linkage between countries, etc.
c. Providing a good framework of observations.
d. Providing new summaries for sub-regions, over CDB national reports, etc.
e. Providing impressive and comprehensive figures.
・Parts and Chapters:a. Concepts and frameworks
b. States and trends of species and ecosystems
c. Human-nature interactions
d. Databases and challenges for data sharing(Discussions)
Dr. Vergara: We should provide a viewpoint on interaction of all threats and integrated
solutions in collaboration with other countries.
Dr. Ibrahim: There should be references and publications based on scientific data fromestablished organizations like ACB, IUCN. We know there is a lot to be done but there area lot of collaborators in this effort.
Dr. Shirayama: We should include the relationship between Indigenous and Local Knowledge(ILK) and science.
Dr. Kim: It would be good if we could provide a new viewpoint in terms of the complexity ofthe biodiversity.
9. Biodiversity Observation in Taiwan
Dr. Yu Huang Wang (TaiBIF)
・Dr. Wang introduced what they are doing on data collection with the use of camera traps andacoustic diversity index monitoring in Taiwan.
(Discussions)Dr. Park: What is your reason for getting this type of acoustic monitoring?
Dr. Wang: The purpose is to monitor soundscape changes over time.

Dr. Keping: You should put up a link between species and sound, and set up a reference
database. This is a big challenge to establish such database.
Dr. Kim: Taiwan has the best informatics. We would like to create and share this platform.
10. Discussion on Data Sharing
Dr. Yu Huang Wang (TaiBIF)
・Dr. Wang introduced the BIFA for which GBIF provides fund to collect more data incollaboration with ACB. In July or August of 2016, TaiBIF is organizing a training workshop
with support from GBIF and attendance to this will increase capacity in data paper
publication.
(Discussions)Dr. Freyhof: GBIF published data standards to accommodate time series data on biodiversity
change.
Dr. Wang: In the training workshop, the GBIF standards are included through the Integrated
Publishing Toolkit (IPT) training.
Dr. Vergara: Motivation for data publication being addressed by GBIF through the BIFA andIPT for data paper publication.
Dr. Wang: In recent years, data paper is a good incentive to publish data. GBIF also has theDigital Object Identifier (DOI) that is a data citation index mechanism. The more people
use the data, the more citations can be linked to it. This increases the integrity of the dataand will be a good reward for the owner of data.
Dr. Marod: When we talk about data sharing, the problem is that the data is funded bydifferent agencies and a few can be shared. I can share my data but I need the support tohire someone to arrange the dataset.
Dr. Darnaedi: What type of data should we share?
Dr. Yahara: Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), EBV, red list, for example.
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