LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — Southeast Asia is being urged to move beyond simply declaring protected areas and focus on whether these places are actually being protected, restored and sustainably managed.
The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is calling for stronger protected-area management and expanded ecosystem restoration efforts as ASEAN member states work toward regional and global biodiversity targets.
The push comes as Southeast Asia continues to face mounting pressure from habitat loss, climate change, unsustainable resource use and other threats to its exceptionally rich biodiversity. ASEAN describes the region as a global biodiversity hotspot, while millions of people depend directly or indirectly on forests, wetlands, rivers, coastal ecosystems and seas for food, livelihoods and other essential services.
Beyond declaring protected areas
For the ACB, effective conservation is not simply about increasing the number of protected areas.
The regional biodiversity body says countries need to improve management plans, strengthen monitoring, identify areas that require additional protection and ensure that priority conservation measures are actually implemented.
Its biodiversity-conservation programme specifically calls for the development and updating of protected-area management plans through multistakeholder and participatory processes, while supporting priority activities identified in those plans. It also promotes stronger management of ASEAN Heritage Parks and cooperation across national borders.
That distinction is critical: a protected area on paper does not automatically mean an ecosystem is secure on the ground.
Effective management can involve habitat monitoring, wildlife law enforcement, scientific assessment, community engagement, sustainable financing and measures that address the specific threats facing each site.
The ACB has also identified sustainable financing as a major challenge. At the regional level, protected areas often rely heavily on government funding, which can be limited and unpredictable. Conservation programmes therefore need more sustainable sources of financing for management operations, law enforcement, biodiversity monitoring, research, community outreach and tourism management.
Restoration is becoming a central part of the strategy
Protecting remaining ecosystems is only part of the equation.
The ACB is also supporting the restoration of degraded ecosystems, including forests, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, peatlands, grasslands and inland waters.
The organisation’s biodiversity programme calls for regional mapping of degraded ecosystems and support for pilot initiatives that can be expanded into national, regional and transboundary restoration programmes.
The approach is already being tested in the Philippines.
In July 2026, the ACB’s EnCORE Wetlands Project brought together stakeholders in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Agusan del Sur to develop site-specific restoration interventions. The project said these interventions would combine ecosystem restoration with livelihood considerations and involve community-based organisations in implementation.
The Agusan initiative is significant because it illustrates the direction ASEAN conservation efforts are taking: restoration is increasingly being treated not simply as tree planting or habitat repair, but as a coordinated effort involving science, local communities, government agencies and long-term ecosystem management.
The Philippines already has major stakes in the ASEAN conservation network
The Philippines is particularly relevant to the regional effort because several of its protected areas are part of the ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHP) network.
The country has recently strengthened its representation in the network, with sites including Apo Reef Natural Park, Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park and Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary among the Philippine protected areas recognised as ASEAN Heritage Parks.
AHP status provides opportunities for protected-area managers to exchange knowledge, strengthen management capacity, engage conservation partners and improve public awareness.
But the designation also underscores a larger responsibility: recognition must be matched by effective management and sustained conservation work.
The ACB has repeatedly emphasised that ASEAN Heritage Parks can serve as practical laboratories for ecological restoration, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.
ASEAN’s 30×30 ambition adds pressure
The conservation push is also connected to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly Target 3, commonly associated with the 30×30 goal of conserving at least 30 percent of the world’s land and inland waters and 30 percent of marine and coastal areas by 2030 through effective and inclusive conservation.
At the ACB’s Eighth ASEAN Heritage Parks Conference in Vietnam in December 2025, protected-area management, ecosystem restoration, the 30×30 target and sustainable financing were among the major issues discussed by more than 300 participants from the region.
The challenge, however, is not simply reaching a numerical percentage.
The quality of protection matters.
A protected area that lacks adequate staffing, financing, monitoring or enforcement may contribute far less to biodiversity conservation than its official designation suggests.
Marine conservation is also shifting toward connected networks
The same principle is increasingly being applied to marine ecosystems.
Through the ASEAN ENMAPS initiative, regional partners are working toward ecologically connected networks of marine protected areas rather than treating individual protected areas as isolated sites.
In March 2026, ACB convened technical experts and GIS specialists to consolidate and harmonise data needed to develop the scientific and technical foundation for connected and socially responsive marine protected-area networks across ASEAN’s large marine ecosystems.
The initiative is particularly relevant to the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, where coastal communities, fisheries and marine biodiversity are closely connected across national boundaries.
Recent ACB work has also moved toward reviewing marine protected-area management plans and developing sustainable financing approaches, signalling that conservation efforts are increasingly being linked with long-term governance and financial sustainability.
Communities cannot be left out
Another recurring theme in ASEAN’s biodiversity agenda is participation.
The ACB has stressed the role of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth in conservation, recognising that biodiversity protection cannot be sustained through government action alone.
This is particularly important for protected landscapes where communities depend on forests, fisheries, wetlands and other natural resources.
For restoration programmes to succeed, local stakeholders need to be involved not only as beneficiaries but also in planning, implementation, monitoring and decision-making.
The real test begins on the ground
ASEAN has already established a broad framework for biodiversity conservation.
The harder question is implementation.
The region must now translate biodiversity commitments into adequately funded management plans, stronger enforcement, reliable monitoring, science-based restoration and meaningful community participation.
For the Philippines and its ASEAN neighbours, the stakes extend well beyond protecting wildlife.
Healthy forests, wetlands, mangroves, reefs and coastal ecosystems provide flood protection, water resources, fisheries, carbon storage, climate resilience and livelihoods.
The message from the region’s biodiversity experts is therefore increasingly clear: conservation cannot stop at declaring an area protected. It has to continue with managing it effectively, restoring what has been degraded and ensuring that the people who depend on these ecosystems have a stake in keeping them alive.
And with the 2030 biodiversity targets drawing closer, the question is no longer whether ASEAN has conservation commitments.
It is whether those commitments will be strong enough—and fast enough—to make a measurable difference before more of Southeast Asia’s natural heritage is lost.
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