ICTB 2015: Challenges, Progress, and Future Direction of Ecological Restoration of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO BIOTROP) in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organized the international conference titled “2nd International Conference on Tropical Biology (ICTB) 2015”. The conference taking the theme of discussion of “Ecological Restoration in Southeast Asia: Challenges, Gains, and Future Directions” was organized on Monday-Tuesday (12-13/10), located at Conference Hall SEAMEO BIOTROP, Bogor.

 

The implementation of this activity was based on the economic growth of Southeast Asia which was quite rapidly, but it was maintaining the integrity of the environment. In addition to the reduced supply of natural resources, the rapid population growth, the forest exploitation and the agricultural land caused the increasingly degraded ecosystems. Therefore, the science and practice of ecological restoration was considered to provide a solution to solve the problem.

 

In his speech, Director of SEAMEO BIOTROP, Dr. Irdika Mansur conveyed that the environmental damage could not be separated from the human activity. “The consequences of environmental problem should be a concern for us all,” explained Dr. Irdika.

 

“We are fortunate to have the scholars and the practitioners in the field of ecological restoration to restore the integrated ecosystem function to offset the rapid population growth,” added Dr. Irdika. Furthermore, Dr. Irdika hoped that this conference could be a forum for the scholars and the practitioners to share knowledge regarding the restoration techniques.

 

This conference was followed by at least 124 participants consisting of academics, researchers, and practitioners. The participants attended followed this activity coming from several countries, namely Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, China, Kenya, England, Malaysia, Nepal, United States of America, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

 

Presented as the main speakers at the conference among others Patrick Durst from FAO Regional Asia Pacific Thailand and Nigel Tucker from Biotropica Australia. The implementation of ICTB 2015 was supported by Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO), Biotropica Australia, Chiang Mai University Forest Restoration Research Unit (CMU-FORRU), Bangor University, British Council and Australian National University (ANU). (as)