Southeast Asian nations have been warned of the risk of biodiversity loss – a non-traditional threat relating to regional security.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that biodiversity loss will pose a threat to food security, cause drought and hunger, even lead to war on water source among territories.
Southeast Asia fails to conserve its ecosystems, although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) built its own Convention on Biological Diversity and has taken a series of measures within the framework of the convention, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Though accounting for only three percent of the earth surface, the region is home to 18 percent of the world’s fauna and flora.
However, it now tops the world in losing mangrove forests with 26 percent disappeared in the past 25 years.
Statistics from the Indonesian Forestry Ministry showed that the country’s 840,000 hectares of forests disappeared in 2012, while Malaysia’s forests were narrowed by 353,000 hectares in 2011 and seven percent of Cambodia’s forests were lost during the 2001-13 period.
The region also has the highest rate of coral reef loss, according to IUCN.-VNA
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that biodiversity loss will pose a threat to food security, cause drought and hunger, even lead to war on water source among territories.
Southeast Asia fails to conserve its ecosystems, although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) built its own Convention on Biological Diversity and has taken a series of measures within the framework of the convention, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Though accounting for only three percent of the earth surface, the region is home to 18 percent of the world’s fauna and flora.
However, it now tops the world in losing mangrove forests with 26 percent disappeared in the past 25 years.
Statistics from the Indonesian Forestry Ministry showed that the country’s 840,000 hectares of forests disappeared in 2012, while Malaysia’s forests were narrowed by 353,000 hectares in 2011 and seven percent of Cambodia’s forests were lost during the 2001-13 period.
The region also has the highest rate of coral reef loss, according to IUCN.-VNA
