Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative

I participated in the Sustainable Ocean Initiative Sub-regional Capacity-building Workshop for the Coral Triangle held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 30 July to 3 August 2018 on behalf of GYBN. In this workshop, I engaged with government representatives to promote young people as effective partners at both national and sub-national levels in conserving one of the richest marine biogeographic regions in the world, the Coral Triangle. 

I was fortunate to attend the 14th UN Biodiversity Conference in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt in 2018. At COP14, I followed closely the issue of marine biodiversity, where I was given the chance to draft the intervention of GYBN on marine biodiversity and deliver it before the parties.

On behalf of GYBN, I participated in the Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation Workshop for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework in Nagoya, Japan in January 2019. In this meeting, I lobbied for youth-specific concerns, interests, and issues— including a presentation on the new narratives for biodiversity, highlighting the important role of youths, women, indigenous peoples, and local communities in the process.

Along with advocating for policies, GYBN also engages in capacity-building programs to inform young people about the CBD and its application. I assisted in organizing the Youth Biodiversity Leaders 2019, the flagship youth program run by the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity in partnership with the GYBN, in March 2019. Twenty young conservation leaders from throughout the ASEAN region were brought together by this program in Bangkok, Thailand to develop their leadership abilities, learn about conservation policy, and establish connections with other young leaders in the area as well as with GYBN.

In September 2019, I helped facilitate the 2nd MAB Youth Forum of UNESCO in Changbaishan Biosphere Reserve, China under the theme "Committed to Biodiversity". The forum gathered more than 200 youth from the world's biosphere reserves to build capacity on the MAB, CBD, and Post-2020 framework, as well as mobilize them given their involvement in CBD COP15. The final output of the forum was a youth declaration and an action plan.

I attended the Workshop for Experts in Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, which took place in Montreal, Canada, from November 13–15 2019. The workshop solicited opinions and generated specific ideas from experts on components linked to the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity for inclusion in the Post-2020 GBF. Photo grabbed from IISD Reporting Services.

I participated in the Regional Training Capacity-building Workshop on Gender-Biodiversity Issues in Southeast Asia held in Manila, Philippines on 9-13 December 2019. This workshop aimed to help enhance institutional capacity on gender mainstreaming, contribute to stronger regional action on gender-responsive biodiversity policy and programming, and identify recommendations for gender elements to be incorporated in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. This was co-organized by the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

I participated in the Regional Workshop on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to Accelerate Progress on Aichi Target 11 Implementation in the East and Southeast Asia Region. This workshop is the first for OECMs, which aims to reinforce initiatives of countries in the said region towards fulfilling the Aichi Target 11 by sharing the strategies and approaches about how the countries will recognize, report, and support OECMS. This was co-organized by the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

In February 2020, I joined the GYBN in Rome, Italy to attend the 2nd Open-Ended Working Group Meeting of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Our target proposals on transformative education and the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities, women and girls, and youth—both of which are very well reflected in our youth consultations—were well received by Parties.