Bangkok--2 Mar--Asian Institute of Technology
Eleven student volunteers from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) acted as 'Social Reporters' at the Second ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity (ACB) 2016 held on 15-17 February 2016 at Bangkok. As social reporters, AIT students documented the technical sessions, summarized the proceedings, provided inputs to the daily bulletin, assisted in the field trip for delegates, and participated in discussions with policy makers, experts, NGOs, and government officials.
Nine of the 11 student volunteers came from the Natural Resource Management (NRM) field of study, while one each came from Environmental Engineering and Management (EEM), Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP), and Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems (RS/GIS).
Mr. Dwight Jason Ronan, a student volunteer who has earlier associated with ACB said: "AIT students possess good communication skills and represent virtually all countries in the region, which is why the organizers sought volunteers from AIT." Students who participated in ACB came from nine countries including two each from Thailand and India, and one each from Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
"The Conference agenda centered on key biodiversity issues in the ASEAN region, progress in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, ecosystem-based approaches in managing critical ecosystems and biodiversity, challenges and potentials of access and benefit sharing of genetic resources; and the role of the business sector in biodiversity conservation," Dr. Nophea Sasaki, NRM Associate Professor and expert in biodiversity conservation and REDD+, from AIT's School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) added. Dr. Nophea Sasaki guided the students and actively participated in the conference.
Members of the social reporting team included Ms. Ing Mala (Cambodia), Ms. Katika Punbuatoom (Thailand), Ms. Le Truong Ngoc Han (Vietnam), Mr. Nay Min Maung (Myanmar); Ms. Neha Thapa (Nepal), Mr. Rehan Ul-Haq (Pakistan), Mr. Vasan Narang (Thailand); Mr. Wu Szu Kuang (Taiwan), all of NRM; Mr. Dwight Jason Ronan (Philippines) from RRDP; Mr. Harsha Jagarapu and Mr. Sairam Nelapatla (India) from RS-GIS and EEM respectively.
More details about the Conference is available at this link: https://www.aseanbiodiversity.org/acb2016/#partners