Summary Report
AP-BON Task Group at 11th GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium (GEOSS-AP)
The Task Group (TG) 2 of AP-BON was held as one of the working group of the parallel session of10th GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Asia-Pacific Symposium
Outline of the meeting
Date: 3rd November, 2019
Venue: Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Co-Chairs: Tetsukazu Yahara (Kyushu University, Japan); Sheila Vergara (ASEAN Center for
Biodiversity, Philippines); Eun-Shik Kim (Kookmin University, Republic of Korea)
Participants: 22 persons and 11 nationalities
Objectives:-Engagement of biodiversity observation communities in the region particularly in the Pacific andOceanic regions taking advantage of AOGEO Symposium being held in Australia-Identifying policy-relevant biodiversity observations and assessments-

Seeking collaborative opportunities with carbon cycle community and satellite observation
mission(s)Outline of the proceedings<Opening Session>
1．Welcome by Co-chairs of AP-BON
First of all, on behalf of the three co-chairs of APBON, Dr. Tetsukazu Yahara, Kyushu University,
thanked to all participants to TG2. He delivered the brief explanation of the history of APBON andtalked about one of the important APBON mission, which is to think and discuss the collaboration inthe AP region in the future. Another mission from the other perspective is to think about how we cancontribute to CBD COP 15 to be held in China in 2020.
In conclusion of his opening remarks, he noted today is an important meeting for the implementationof these mission, and therefore, today’s fruitful discussion would be expected.
2．Welcome by Ministry of the Environment, JapanMr. Kazuo Somiya, Secretary General of AP-BON, (Ministry of Environment, Japan,) welcomed allparticipants to TG2 and thanked to Ms. Laetitia Navarro from GEO BON and three co-chairs, Dr.
Tetsukazu Yahara, Dr. Sheila Vergara and Dr. Eun-Shik Kim. He said that this meeting is a good
opportunity to share the current status of biodiversity observation in the AP region, and also to discuss
the contribution to AOGEO System. While mentioning to the Joint Session of TG2 and TG3, heconcluded with his expectation for today’s fruitful discussion.
3．Setting the scene - Overview of AP-BON New Workplan and Today’s agendaDr. Hiroyuki Muraoka of Gifu University, Japan; AOGEO Coordination Board; GEO Programme
Board, explained the history and outline of AP-BON with the introduction of the other several groups
and their activities such as GEO BON and National BONs. Also, he mentioned the outcome titled“Kyoto Statement 2018” which was adopted last year and updated AP-BON workplan. Then,objectives of the session, today’s agenda and expected outcomes were shared with all. Finally he said
that reporting the results from each TG for AOGEO Statement 2019 would be needed in tomorrow’s
Plenary Session, and TG2’s conclusion would be expected in today’s discussion.
Keynote1: “Biodiversity observations in Asia-Oceania – Marine”, Takehisa Yamakita (JAMSTEC,Japan)
Mr. Takehisa Yamakita of Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Tecnology (JAMSTEC)
briefly mentioned AP-MBON progress updates after the 11th AP-BONWorkshop held in June 2019
in Kuala Lumpur and gave a presentation mainly about three things; GOOS, the outline of MBON andTopics in Oceania.
1) GOOS which stands for The Global Ocean Observing System is a sustained collaborative systemof ocean observations, encompassing in situ networks, satellite systems, governments, UN agencies
and individual scientists and 9th GOOS Regional Alliances Forum was held on 5-7 August 2019 inTokyo, Japan. He introduced in what areas the GRA would like to be active, and mentioned China,Japan, Korea and Russia as NEAR-GOOS Databases.
2) He explained Vision and Key Objectives of MBON, and reported three things; Developing an
MBON Implementation Plan, Data Management and Developing EBVs). In particular, he focused on“The U.S. MBON projects”.
3) He talked about the current marine states in Australia through monitoring by using AutonomousUnderwater-Vehicles, so-called “Drone” inside the ocean.
Keynote2: “Australian-LTER and its potential to contribute to AP-BON”, Michael Liddell (JamesCook University, Australia）
Dr. Michael Liddell of James Cook University, Australia, firstly explained theoutline of Australian LTER（Long Term Ecological Research）including its background, and in

particular, what is TERN Australian SuperSite with the mapping to show us the specific sites. Also
he introduced Biodiversity in Australia, its meaning, Australian species biodiversity, and the rate ofendemics out of all species in Australia. In addition, the biodiversity problem, biodiversity
monitoring and national biodiversity conservation strategy were reported.
Finally, he concluded with the explanation of ABSNET（Australian Biodiversity Sensor Network）
and biodiversity monitoring using an early model I&II and camera traps.
Session1: Engagement of local, national and regional biodiversity observations
1．Session Introduction
Dr. Sheila Vergara as a moderator in Session1 told us the theme and expectations in this session, andintroduced three presenters.
2．Recent development of local/national biodiversity obs.
2-1．Charlie Heatubun (University of Papua, Indonesia)
Dr. Charlie Heatubun in University of Papua, Indonesia, had a brief introduction of Indonesian New
Guinea, and presented current status of biodiversity in New Guinea, the process of the number ofspecies per decade from 1750 to 2019, and threats to biodiversity in Indonesian New Guinea
showing pictures and mapping. Also he reported the estimated change of endemic plant species
richness in the face of climate change from now to 2070 and change in species richness across New
Guinea’s ecoregions under future climate.
Finally, Declaration of West Papua as the first Conservation Province in Indonesia 2015 wasintroduced, where Manokwari Declaration followed in 2018.
2-2．Mangal Man Shakya (Wildlife Watch Group, Nepal)
Mr. Mangal Man Shakya, Wildlife Watch Group, Nepal, firstly introduced an overview of theprogress by Nepal-BON and biodiversity observations in Nepal with some pictures. In addition,biodiversity initiatives in Nepal were shared. He emphasized the biodiversity significance in theHimalaya which has transboundary landscapes and told us some groups and goals as biodiversity
initiatives in the Himalaya.
2-3．Sheila Vergara (ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity)
Dr. Sheila Vergara, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, gave a presentation about Conservation
Challenges in ASEAN Heritage Parks and Progress of the implementation of Aichi Target in theASEAN Region. First of all, she explained the status of protected areas of Terrestrial and Marine inpursuit of Aichi Target11. Connectivity of the ASEAN Flyway Network was shared and sheemphasized the importance of the Philippine Hotspot for highly migratory species such as birds andsea turtles.
Finally as a conclusion, Strategic goal C, Target5, Target7 and Target12 were mentioned, andcurrent situations and what we need to do was shared.
Session2: Recent activities and Highlights of outcomes relevant to science-policy linkage
1．Session Introduction
Dr. Eun-Shik Kim as a moderator in Session2 told us the theme and expectations in this session, andintroduced three presenters with their presentation titles.
2．GEO BON’s activities and post-2020 strategy (Laetitia Navarro: GEO BON)
Ms. Laetitia Navarro on behalf of GEO BON gave a brief outline of GEO BON and explained "GEO
BON core focus” which is producing policy relevant outputs by 1) developing the essential
biodiversity variables (EBVs) and 2) developing the biodiversity observation networks. In terms of2), the latter, she introduced updates on new BONs; soil BON and Americans BON. Regarding 1),
the former, she mentioned the outline one EBVs, species traits and species populations.
In conclusion, she told us workshops named “EBV2020” which will be held in 2020 in the U.S. andGermany and post-2020 biodiversity framework.
3．Highlighting AP-BON activities for biodiversity-based consideration on environmentsocietyissues
3-1．Freshwater – Yuichi Kano (Kyushu University, Japan)
Dr. Yuichi Kano, Kyushu University, Japan, reported new integrated biodiversity database on
freshwater organisms of Monsoon Asia. He explained that freshwater organism, especiallyfreshwater fishes, are the symbolic biodiversity in Monsoon Asia, but on the other hand, thefundamental information about freshwater biodiversity has been inadequate. With these background,he said that he had just launched an integrated biodiversity database on freshwater organisms ofMonsoon Asia. There are totally 3 kinds of database, which means 2 out of 3 are FiMSEA andGEDIMAP, and the other is Dr. Kano’s original one. He introduced that the data are covered 6countries; Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar and the structure of thedatabase has 6 tables; Sampling, Occurrence, Taxonomy, DNA, Media File and Literature.
3-2．Marine – Hiroya Yamano (NIES, Japan)
Dr. Hiroya Yamano, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, delivered a presentation
about area-based conservation and management of coral reefs for climate change adaptation oftropical Pacific islands. He mentioned the predictive modeling of coral bleaching and mortality andmanagement planning at Kerama-shoto (Kerama Islands), National Park in Okinawa, Japan, underchanging climate. Also he introduced in-situ survey, model validation and future projection of coralbleaching and mortality because of SST (Sea Surface Temperature).
As a conclusion, the Publication of a guide for climate change adaptation in protected areas which
was issued by Ministry of the Environment, Japan was shared.
In the following discussion, Dr. Reiichiro Ishii, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature,reported the outline of Regional Centre for Future Earth in Asia and hosted by his Institute andupcoming plan after 2020.
Session3: Designing the future steps: filling observational gaps by multi-disciplinary approach (jointsession of TG2 and TG3)
1．Session Introduction
Dr. Hiroyuki Muraoka as a moderator in Session3 told us the theme and expectations in this session,
and welcomed participants of TG3. Also he introduced totally
3 presenters and their presentation titles; one from AP-BON, one from JAXA, TG2, and one fromTG3.
2．Expectations from AP-BON (Yayoi Takeuchi: NIES, Japan)
Dr. Yayoi Takeuchi, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, firstly introduced theoutline of AP-BON in terms of mission, activities, vision and challenges. She mentioned evaluationof sustainability of tropical forest ecosystems by 3D monitoring technique and introduced two
objectives to understand relationship between forest structure and species diversity. One ischaracterizing forest canopy structure by UAV-SfM. Another is exploring forest canopy index which
infer tree species diversity.
Finally, she told us two expectations from APBON as a conclusion. One is filling the observational
gaps through collaboration with Remote sensing team. Another is understanding relationships
between species diversity and ecosystem functions through collaboration with Carbon/GHGs TG.
3．Expectations from satellite observations (Osamu Ochiai: JAXA, Japan)
Dr. Osamu Ochiai, JAXA, Japan, firstly did a presentation about the outline of CEOS (Committeeon Earth Observation), Refinement to 2006 IPCC Guidelines for GHG Inventories, and a decadelong global GHG observation by GOSAT, “Ibuki” in Japanese. After the introduction of ESA
BIOMASS, which is planning earth observation mission, he reported three kinds of case study; 1)
Forest above-ground biomass map development, 2) Land-cover map development and regional-scalecarbon budget estimation, and 3) Peatland subsidence monitoring and local-scale carbon budget
estimation.
In the end, he finalized with the summary and future plan as described. First of all, PALSAR-2 time-series data has an ability in above-ground biomass estimation and land-cover mapping. Secondly,
PALSAR-2 InSAR technology has an ability to observe spatial distribution of ground subsidence inpeatlands. Thirdly, these abilities are effective in carbon budget estimation in a large-scale. In thefuture, we will compare insitu observation data (CO2 flux and peat depth) with our results to clarify
the reliability of InSAR observation.
4．Expectations from Carbon and GHG initiative / AOGEO Task Group 3(Kazuhito Ichii: Chiba University, Japan)
On behalf of TG3, Dr. Kazuhito Ichii, Chiba University, Japan, had a brief introduction of IPBESGlobal Assessment approved on May 4, 2019. He reported about Status of CO2 flux observation,Data-driven CO2 flux estimation, Issues of CO2 flux observation, and Geostationary Satellite as aNew Opportunity of Earth Observation.
As a conclusion, he brought up four issues; 1) Difficulty in validation with observation at present, 2)
Promoting publicly available dataset, 3) Experiences in TERN/ ICOS etc., and 4) Experiences in
TG-2, Linking TG-2 and TG-3.
Session4: Summary and next steps
1．Understanding biases and developing better standards for biodiversity data (Alice Hughes:
XTBG)
Dr. Alice Hughes, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science,reported biodiversity threats and patterns in the Asian tropics while introducing threatened species
with the map and current states of deforestation. Especially, its patterns and processes ware stated indetail. She concluded with the explanation of priorities for conservation in Southeast Asia andconservation in a changing world.
2 ．AP-BON's contribution to AOGEO (GEO’s three Engagement Priorities, AOGEO IntegratedPriority Studies)
Dr. Yayoi Takeuchi, National Institute for Environmental Studies, as a moderator in Session4
introduced AP-BON’s contribution to AOGEO and IPS from each perspective; Mekong River Basin,
Himalayas and Pacific Islands. Also she mentioned future steps and drafting AP-BON’s input toAOGEO Statement.
3．Summary of the Sectorial session - Drafting AP-BON’s input to AOGEO Statement
In this session, draft of AP-BON’s input which was made by AP-BON session organizers to report
activities and next designs of all TGs on Plenary Session on November 4 was shared with all. Its
draft was revised considering today’s presentation and discussion and finally completed with bigapplause of all.
Closing Remarks
1-1．Tetsukazu Yahara (Kyushu University)On behalf of three co-chairs, Dr. Yahara expressed his gratitude for all of today’s discussion. Afterhe briefly mentioned his future after his retirement next year, he concluded to continue working
together to develop and strengthen our network.
1-2．Eun-Shik Kim (Kookmin University)
Dr. Eun-Shik Kim, one of co-chairs, briefly talked about his activity this year and expressed theexpectation for young generations as co-chairs in the future.

TG2: Plenary Session

Joint Session of TG2 and TG3

Keynote: Host Country (Australia)

Group Photo (TG2)