ASEAN – Business: Green Industries | Asean launches 10-year road map to protect regional heritage parks
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ASEAN environment leaders launched the Asean Heritage Parks Regional Action Plan 2026–2035, a 10-year strategic road map that will strengthen the network of 69 Asean Heritage Parks (AHP) by enhancing the management and conservation of ecosystems while supporting regional cooperation and biodiversity objectives.
Representatives from the Asean’s 11 member states — Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam — attended the launch which was held on Sept. 8–10 and organized by the Asean Center for Biodiversity (ACB) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Rick Leong, data research scientist at the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, said the road map is “valuable because it gives AHPs a common direction for the next decade.” He emphasized, “The challenges we face in Thailand are not isolated from what is happening elsewhere in the Philippines, and in the bigger region of Southeast Asia.”
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Supporting the road map are newly launched capacity-building initiatives and micro-funding designed to boost on-the-ground protection, community livelihoods and cross-border knowledge sharing. Phase three of the Asean Small Grants Program (SGP III), established in 2017, will offer up to 17.2 million euros in grants to be spread out in the following five AHPs: Xe Sap National Park in Lao PDR; Bach Ma National Park and Hue/Quang Nam Saola Nature Reserves in Vietnam; Prek Toal Ramsar site and Virachey National Park in Cambodia; and Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in the Philippines.
ACB Executive Director Jerome Montemayor described SGP III as “a catalyst for community-led conservation, supporting local solutions and livelihoods.” The ACB initiative is supported by the European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW Development Bank.
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Building on these regional initiatives, the Philippine Asean Heritage Parks Network (PAN) will strengthen collaboration among the country’s AHPs. According to Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna in his keynote speech during the launch, PAN can help the country create “a stronger bridge between these individual experiences and collective commitments, connecting park managers to one another, national priorities with regional cooperation, and the work we do on the ground with the broader global agenda for biodiversity and sustainable development.”
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…Protected area criteria
It can “bring together the managers and representatives of existing and newly declared Asean Heritage Parks, while giving protected areas pursuing AHP nomination an opportunity to learn from those who have already gone through the process,” Secretary Cuna said.
The Philippines has 14 AHPs: Mount Makiling Forest Reserve in Laguna and Batangas; Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park in Occidental and Oriental Mindoro; Apo Natural Natural Park in Occidental Mindoro; Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Negros Oriental; Mounts Timpoong-Hibok-hibok Natural Monument in Camiguin; Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Agusan del Sur; Mount Apo Natural Park in Davao del Sur and Cotabato; Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental; Mount Inayawan Range Natural Park in Lanao del Norte; Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park in Bukidnon; Mount Malindang Range Natural Park in Misamis Occidental; Pasonanca Natural Park in Zamboanga City; Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary in Tawi-Tawi; and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan. Mount Balatukan Range Natural Park in Misamis Oriental is set to be named the 15th Philippine AHP.
A protected area merits the AHP title if it meets these criteria: ecological completeness; legally gazetted conservation areas; high conservation importance; naturalness; a wide variety of ecosystems and species; and an approved management plan. Additional criteria include transboundariness, high ethno-biological significance and importance for endangered or precious diversity.
“Declaring an area protected is only the beginning,” Secretary Cuna said. “Protection must be matched by adequate resources, capable institutions, people on the ground and sustained management. … We must give our park managers and communities the resources, knowledge and support they need to make protection real.”
He conceded funding limitations which he said are being addressed through partnerships with local government units, civil society, nongovernmental organizations and academia. DENR is seeking additional budget allocation from the Congress to support the AHPs.
DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau Assistant Director Mariglo Laririt said that “resilience, prosperity and people empowerment” are “three conditions for the same outcome: landscapes and seascapes that remain ecologically functional, economically valuable, socially legitimate and effectively managed over time.”
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