AOGEO Task Group 2:

Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network(APBON)
Co-chairs
Hiroyuki Muraoka (Gifu University; NIES, Japan)
Runi Sylvester Pungga (Forest Department Sarawak, Malaysia)
Yongyut Trisurat (Kasetsart University, Thailand)

APBON is supported by the Ministry of the Environment Japan;
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Japan;
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES),
and all other voluntary contributions.

http://www.esabii.biodic.go.jp/ap-bon/index.html

APBON development and networking
Year

GEO/GEOSS Symposia

2009

3rd GEOSS AP (Kyoto, February)

20104th GEOSS AP (a session, Bali,March)

GEO BON

GEO BON Meeting(February, USA)

2011
GEO BON Meeting(December, USA)

5th GEOSS AP (Tokyo, April)2013

6th GEOSS AP (Ahmedabad,February)

2014

7th GEOSS AP (Tokyo, May)IC and AB (June,Germany)2015

8th GEOSS AP (Beijing,September)

IC and AB (June,Germany)

2016-2025 A New GEO Strategy All-Hands Meeting (July,Plan InitiatedGermany)

2017

9th GEOSS AP(Tokyo, January) ,10th GEOSS AP (Hanoi,September)

IC and AB (July,Germany)

2018

11th GEOSS AP (October, Kyoto)All-Hands Meeting (July,Beijing)

2019

12th AOGEO(November, Canberra)

1st AP BON (July, Japan)
2nd AP BON (December, Japan)

Japan BON (May)

3rd AP BON (CBD COP10Preconference, March, Japan)

CBD COPs

IPBES

COP10 (Japan, Sideevent)

WCC of IUCN (September, Korea)

Korea BON,
Nepal BON,
Bangladesh BON

5th AP BON (November, ACB,Philippines)

Philippines BON

13th AOGEO (March, Online)
4th AOGEO WS (July)
14th AOGEO (Nov. Online)

COP11 (India, Sideevent)
Plenary-1
COP12 (Korea, Sideevent)

6th AP BON (October, NIBR Korea)Sino BON
Indonesia BON
7th AP BON (ACB, Thailand)
8th AP BON (Taipei, Taiwan)

WCC of IUCN
(September, USA)

Plenary-2

Plenary-3

COP13 (Mexico)

Plenary-4

Plenary-5

9th AP BON (Bangkok, February),
10th AP BON (Kuching, July)

COP14 (Egypt)

11th AP BON (KL, Malaysia)
Open Science
Conference & All Hands
Meeting

2020

2021

National BONs

4th AP BON (December, Japan)

2012

2016

AP BON Meetings

12th APBON (Online)
13th APBON (Online)

Plenary-6

Plenary-7
COP15 (China)(postponed)

Plenary-8 (tbc)

COP15 (China)

Plenary-8 (June)

Participants from…
Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, China,
Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Nepal,
Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines,
USA, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, ICIMOD

2

Key Activities and Achievements since 2009
“APBON Books” (Springer, 2012, 2014, 2016)• Species recording, mapping biodiversity
for terrestrial, freshwater, coasts/marine,
and landscape (river basin)• Detect changes of biodiversity• Assessing risks on biodiversity• Data and knowledge sharing, publishing
together• Networking sites / people / institutes /data / communities• APBON Webinars (2020~)

IPBES Regional Assessment Report (2018) “Ecological Research” Data paper(Ecological Society of Japan, Wiley)

3APBON Work Plan update toward 2030
Earth observations – increasing the societal demand under climate change
Needs … We need to respond to the global agenda and activities by providing adequate anddefensible biodiversity data that help developing policy for conservation andsustainable use of biodiversity

Takeuchi & Muraoka et al. (2021)
Ecological Research• APBON will strive to supply the scientific evidence to develop soundassessments and facilitate policy-making• Promoting interdisciplinary research and problem-solving
approaches with filling the knowledge gaps
• Strengthening biodiversity observation networks and collaboration
with Earth observation communities for societal benefits• Promoting the data accessibility, deliver our information andknowledge to global platforms such as CBD, IPBES, and KBA.

Strategy
1. Biodiversity research and monitoringa. Monitoring states and changes of biodiversity
b. Filling gaps in data availabilityc. Increasing access to data (GBIF, ABCDNet, Data paper, OBIS)
d. Improving knowledge by using cutting-edge technologies
2. Networking of networks
a. Networking of in-situ biodiversity/ecosystem monitoring networks
b. Science-policy and science-society networks
3. Capacity buildinga. Training workshops (students, scientists, users)
4

APBON’s missions
p Promoting interdisciplinary research andproblem-solving approaches with fillingthe observational and knowledge gaps,
p Promoting data sharing and data
accessibility through/by networks of theobservation networks,
p Delivering our information andknowledge to stakeholders and global
platforms

Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework(Convention of Biological Diversity) https://www.cbd.int/
p First draft was published in July 2021.
p Build on the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020
and sets out an ambitious plan to implement broadbased action to bring about a transformation insociety’s relationship with biodiversity and to ensure
that, by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony
with nature is fulfilled.

How can we facilitate the effective monitoring?
What can we contribute to regional/global scale analysis?
How can we deliver the results to users and policy-makers?

The 13th APBON Workshop
Date/Time: 19th October 2021, 11:00 – 17:00 JSTObjectives of the Workshop

The 13th APBON Workshop will be organized by interactive discussions by bringing ideas fromparticipants for generating plans of integrative collaborations with the clear objectives below.
A) Scoping collaborative work plan of APBON in the next ca. 4 years (~2025), which is the first half of
APBON’s strategic plan toward 2030.
B) Preparing inputs/deliverables to the 14th AOGEO Symposium (10-12 November 2021) for
discussing biodiversity-related issues and for scoping 2023-2025 AOGEO Implementation Plan
document, and a short presentation at the GEO Week 2021 side event (AOGEO highlights, tbc).

Focus of the sessions
1.
2.
3.
4.

Identifying Integrated knowledge and research/synthesis design (cf., baseline data for detectingchange; socio-ecological boundaries; conservation guideline; joint climate-biodiversity targets;
ecosystem service analysis; respond to Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework)
Analyzing data availability and accessibility, and exploring data sharing (through networking)
Collaboration with partners (e.g., Key Biodiversity Areas, AOGEO)
Engagement with stakeholders (à contribution of APBON to society: e.g., contribution toNational Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (CBD), IPBES assessments, etc.)

Terrestrial & Freshwater Working Group
Forest Observations by satellite + in-situ

eDNA for wildlife monitoring

Social sensing of ecosystem services

Fish diversity in the Mekong River

Q. How can we facilitate the effective monitoring?
à Cutting-edge technologies and citizen science will cover broad
spatial and temporal scales and compensate for monitoring costs.
• Satellite monitoring of biomass, ecosystems, landuse change –needed the ground truth through monitoring networks
ü Need to synthesize biodiversity data in monitoring sites
and biomass data by remote sensing• Social sensing: analyzing SNS reveals real-time and geographicaltrends of plant phenology, cultural ecosystem services• Camera traps and eDNA technologies for biodiversity
monitoring; eDNA reveals unseen species diversity in wildlife
ü Need to enhance DNA barcoding database• 15 yrs monitoring of fish community in Mekong basin: Citizen
scientists contributes to long-time monitoring
Q. What can we contribute to regional/global scale analysis?
à Mobilization of local data and database accessibility• Open data, link to the global database (GBIF, etc.)• Combination of in-situ, airborne and satellite observations atparticular ecosystem research sites (‘master sites’)
Q. How can we deliver the results to users and policy-makers?
à Facilitating dialogue with policy-makers• Strengthen the functions of science-policy interface: APBON,AOGEO• Need the indicators to communicate with policy-makers such as
EBVs and ECVs
• Scientific summary or policy brief for policy-makers

Marine Working Group & AP-MBONUN Decade of Ocean Science and ML2030 (Massa Nakaoka, Hokkaido Univ.)• Lead institution: Smithsonian• Collection of on-going activities, a way to link networks and to link the networks tostakeholders and decision makers• Project time period: July 2021 - Dec 2030
• Integrate MBON and OBIS for more effective biodiversity monitoring• Endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science• Ongoing activity: UN Ocean Decade kick off conference for Western Pacific and its adjacentareas; AP-MBON session accepted in the incubation session for Nov 25-26 https://www.iocwestpac.org/decade-kickoff-conference/

Current status of OBIS (Kit Elloran, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity)• Increasing contents and accessibility is a challenge to fill biodiversity data gaps
• Most data are from national museums and landing sites and there is a gap in ASEANcountries.
• Most data coming from ASEAN Countries are in various formats• Taxonomic, temporal and geographical gaps
• Multi-partnership engagement

Research Network toward Global Scale Biodiversity monitoring of Mangrove
Ecosystem by Using eDNA Metabarcoding (Tadashi Kajita, Univ. of the Ryukyus)• eDNA metabarcoding method will be an effective tool to study diversity of fishes andcrustaceans in the mangrove environment

Actions for further biodiversity monitoring and assessment• Linking ocean with its source rivers, mountain and Himalayas• Reaching out and engaging wider marine communities (young researchers andconservationist)• Capacity building in digitization of Marine Biodiversity Data
• Identifying the knowledge gap and the need for capacity building in data poor regionCollaboration with Partners

KBAs and APBON
Digital Atlas of Trees and Wildlife in Thailand

http://geospecies.dyndns.org/GeoSpecies/examples/tree/ü Biodiversity data generated by AP-BON canbe used to identify KBAs
ü Provision of more accurate range andSuitable Habitat Maps for species to help
identify KBAs
ü KBAs provides a means of turning biodiversity
data into concrete conservation results at anational levelü AP-BON efforts can help monitor KBAs andtheir trigger elements
ü Professor Y. Trisurat (APBON co-chair) – KBA
Community Representative for Asia

APBON Achievements and Plan for 2022 and Beyond
Biodiversity observation is essential for addressing multiple environmental issues -- “Nature-based Solutions”
p Sustainability, resilience and services of ecosystems [à Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework]p Healthy nature and human society – ‘OneHealth’ (cf. IUCN, IPBES WS on Biodiversity and Pandemics 2020)
p Climate change mitigation and adaptation [à UNFCCC Paris Agreement, SDGs]
p Ecosystem-based DRR [à Sendai Framework for DRR]
Advancement of biodiversity and ecosystem service observations / assessments
p Long-term monitoring at various key places over the region to capture temporal trends, assess impacts ofclimate and societal changes, and predict the future changes• Cutting-edge technologies -- eDNA, social sensing, camera traps, etc.
• Integration with remote sensing for forests, mangrove, coasts, landuse change -- satellite, airborne,shipborne to cover broad spatial and temporal scalesp Joint targets for Biodiversity × Climate are crucial for addressing the issues (cf. IPBES-IPCC WS Biodiversity and Climate Change)
Data sharing and integration are essential for addressing broad environmental issues
p Urgent assessment of biodiversity in the region for informing society and policy
p Defining/refining Essential Biodiversity Variables and Essential Climate Variables for the region
p Broad engagement of biodiversity observations for gap area and for tackling cross-cutting issues
p Collaboration with AOGEO TGs should be fostered for interdisciplinary approach