TU STUDENTS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN FREE 6-7 NOVEMBER ZOOM WEBINAR ON PEATLANDS, MANGROVES, AND FRESHWATER SWAMPS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Thammasat University students interested in ASEAN studies, biology, natural history, environmental studies, ecology, sociology, anthropology, zoology, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 6-7 November Zoom webinar on Habitats of Heritage: Peatlands, Mangroves, and Freshwater Swamps in Southeast Asia.

The event, on Wednesday, 6 November and Thursday, 7 November 2024 at 8am Bangkok time, is organized by the Inter-Asia Engagements Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, Department of History, and Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS); and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), Philippines.

The TU Library collection includes books about swamps in Southeast Asia.

Students are invited to register at this link.

https://ari.nus.edu.sg/events/habitats-of-heritage/#form

The event announcement states:

Southeast Asian habitats are home to some of the world’s richest centres of biodiversity. From Indonesian lakes to Thai peatlands and from Philippine mangroves to Burmese swamps, these habitats of heritage are sites of rare, endemic, migratory, and endangered species while at the same time serving as places of historical, social, and economic value. They provide essential ecosystem services and invaluable cultural services too. Yet this biodiversity heritage is in a state of crisis in Southeast Asia. Anthropogenic forces such as mega-urbanisation, infrastructure development, and industrial food production are rapidly converting peatlands into plantations, rivers into dammed-up waterways, and mangroves into mass aquaculture. The impact of these conversions—coupled with the effects of climate change—is grave for Southeast Asia’s flora and fauna and the communities that depend on them. But just as the entanglement of habitat losses, global extinctions, and local extirpations are on the rise in the region, so too is the urgent drive to map and know ecosystems, collect data on biological species, expand coverage of nature parks and protected reserves, and cultivate conservation awareness (and action) among publics and policymakers in Southeast Asia and beyond. Today’s regional biodiversity work is further networked by a long history of inter-Asia connectivity, making this nature-based engagement increasingly collaborative, interdisciplinary, culturally sensitive, community-facing, and data-driven.   

In partnership with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, our workshop aims to produce new insight into Southeast Asia’s peatlands, mangroves, and freshwater swamps. In particular, it seeks to create a platform for biologists, historians, park managers, museum curators, conservationists, community organizers, and others to report updates on the state and status of Southeast Asian habitats as well as to provide cultural, scientific, and historical analyses into the region’s local biodiversity heritage. By framing and focusing on Southeast Asia’s peatlands, mangroves, and freshwater swamps as habitats of heritage, our forum hopes to foster new kinds of biodiversity conversations that span disciplines, languages, methods, publics, and ecologies.

WORKSHOP CONVENORS

  • Dr Anthony D. Medrano | Yale-NUS College & Department of History, National University of Singapore
  • Dr Arvin C. Diesmos | ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Philippines
  • Dr Eunice Jingmei Tan | Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore
  • A/P Maitrii V. Aung-Thwin | Asia Research Institute & Department of History, National University of Singapore

6 NOVEMBER 2024

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

MAITRII V. AUNG THWIN | Deputy Director, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

THERESA MUNDITA S. LIM | Executive Director, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

LIM LIANG JIM | Group Director, Conservation, National Parks Board

PANEL 1 – FRESHWATERS

MAITRII V. AUNG THWIN | National University of Singapore Shrimp, Nickel, and Flowerhorns: Novel Configurations of Conservation Practices in Sulawesi’s Ancient Lakes JONATHAN GALKA | Harvard University Peatland Fish Diversity in Southeast Asia

HEOK HUI TAN | Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum Mudskippers as Mangrove Flagship Species

ZEEHAN JAAFAR | National University of Singapore

ALYSSA YAN YING TAN | Yale-NUS College  Freshwater Fish Biodiversity in Brunei Darussalam

RAFHIAH KAHAR | Universiti Brunei Darussalam

PANEL 2 – PEATLANDS

ARVIN C. DIESMOS | ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity Peatlands: Biodiversity for Food Security and Climate Nexus

MADE HESTI LESTARI TATA | National Research and Innovation Agency Indonesia Microbial Community Dynamics and Carbon Cycling in Brunei’s Peat Swamp Forests SALWANA MD JAAFAR | Universiti Brunei Darussalam The Badas Peat Swamps of Brunei Darussalam: Ecological Insights and Conservation Efforts

RAHAYU SUKMARIA BINTI HJ SUKRI | Universiti Brunei Darussalam Assessing the Impact of Peat Rewetting Activities from Plot to Landscape Scale:  A Case Study in Central Kalimantan HIDAYAH HAMZAH | World Resource Institute Indonesia

DEDE SULAEMAN | World Resource Institute Indonesia

PANEL 3 – MANGROVES

RENEE LORICA | National University of Singapore Strange Forests of the Sea: Documentation and Knowledge Production about Mangrove Forests in the 19th to 20th Century Philippines

  1. FLORINA ORILLOS-JUAN | De La Salle University Mangrove Ecosystem Biodiversity of Peam Krasop and Koh Kapik, Cambodia

VANESSA HERRANZ MUÑOZ | Fishing Cat Ecological Enterprise Myanmar’s Mangroves: Lifeblood of Coastal Communities

MYO OO | Green Network Tanintharyi Region

SAW WIN MYO SAN | Green Network Tanintharyi Region Kingship on a Mangrove Island: Protecting Pulau Kukup

FAIZAH ZAKARIA | National University of Singapore

PANEL 4 – WETLAND CONSERVATION

EUNICE JINGMEI TAN | National University of Singapore A Link Between the Land and the Sea: Ethnobotany, Heritage and Conservation in Philippine Mangrove Histories

RUEL V. PAGUNSAN | University of the Philippines Diliman Community-Led Mangrove Management in Indonesia: Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Conservation Efforts

BEBY PANE | Yayasan Pesisir Lestari  Mangroves of Vietnam: Biodiversity, Benefits and Management

PHAM HONG TINH | Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment ASEAN Flyway Network: Biodiversity Conservation of Wetlands and Migratory Waterbirds in the ASEAN Region

SHUFEN YANG | National Parks Board Singapore

7 NOVEMBER 2024

PANEL 5 – PEATLANDS 

DARREN CHONG JINN YEO | Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum Tasik Bera – A Unique Habitat for Freshwater Fishes in Peninsular Malaysia

AMIRRUDDIN AHMAD | Universiti Malaysia Terengganu Rapid Biodiversity Assessment in Peatland Ecosystems in Vientiane and Champasak Provinces, Lao People’s Democratic Republic INTHAVY AKKARATH | Water Resources Department, Lao PDR Ministry of Environment Unravelling the Mystery of Food Webs and Impact of Land-use Change in Malaysian Peat Swamps

ELYSIA TOH | University of the Sunshine Coast Tech-Driven Conservation: How the SUPA Project Transformed Peatland Fire Management in Thailand

THAWATCHAI PALAKHAMARN | GIZ Thailand SUPA Project

PANEL 6 – WETLANDS 

NUR HASANAH GAUCH | ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity Vegetation Structure, Zonation, and Plant Biodiversity in the Agusan Peat Swamp Forest, Philippines

EDWINO S. FERNANDO | University of the Philippines Los Baños

LOWELL C. ARIBAL | Central Mindanao University  UST’s Aquatic Insect To Zooplankton (A To Z) Research and its Contributions to our Knowledge about Aquatic Biodiversity and Ecology in Major Inland Wetlands of the Philippines 

REY DONNE S. PAPA | University of Santo Tomas Wings over Water: Birds of Southeast Asian Wetlands

YEN YI TAN | Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum Integrated Solutions for Management of Tropical Freshwater Swamp Forest

YIXIONG CAI | National Parks Board Singapore

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)