During November 6-7, 2024, the Southeast Asia Biodiversity Workshop was organized in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province of China. Hosted by the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the workshop aimed to serve as a critical platform to enable exchange of knowledge, to explore new partnerships, and to facilitate the establishment of a foundation for future collaborative endeavors in conservation, research, and capacity building in Southeast Asia.

Ms Tatirose Vijitpan, Focal Point of Greater Mekong Sub-region Portfolio, UNEP-IEMP, attended the workshop. She gave presentation titled “Integrated ecosystem management for sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation”, which highlighted the roles of sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem management, especially in engaging the local communities in biodiversity conservation. This is particularly important in addressing the whole-of-society approach of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

She also took the opportunity to discuss with the teams, led by XTBG, of the collaboration project between the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and UNEP, titled “Maintenance mechanisms and scale effects of soil nutrient heterogeneity and biodiversity in tropical forests: based on the forest transect from Southwest China to Indo-China peninsula”. The project is well-progressed, with firm collaboration from counterparts from Thailand.

Meeting with the team of NSFC-UNEP funded project

At the end of the workshop, discussions were facilitated to further exchange information and explore potential collaboration.