MATERIAL AND METHOD 1 Introduction to the FORIS project

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1.2 Threats and issues

Currently, there are a number of threats and issues when dealing with IAS. These threats include: i Increased pathway activities; ii Climate change; iii Ecological vulnerability of ecosystems; and the issues include: i Insufficient baseline data e.g. on impacts; ii In- sufficient stakeholder involvement and coordination and iii Low IAS management capacity. At the country level, countries pose IAS problems due to : i Lack of national policies on management of IAS; ii Weakly coordinated action amongst various stakeholders including forest and forestry sectors; iii Quarantine measures make little reference to IAS and no effective rapid response to new pest outbreaks; iv Little or no capacity for IAS management; v Lack of information on IAS present, their distribution, impacts and management; vi Very low awareness levels; vii Little or no active control on invasive plants; viii Absence of information on best practices entailing the governance and management of IAS. At the Regional level, there is: i Insufficient information sharing on IAS and ii Lack of regional cooperation in the management of IAS.

1.3 Impacts of IAS

There are not many sources papers describing the impacts of IAS especially those involving forest ecosystems in southeast Asia SEA. One relatively recent source Kelvin Peh, 2010 gave a good description on the types of impacts attributed to invasive species in SEA and also on ecosystem services Kelvin Peh et al 2015. The impacts were:i Displacement of native biota e.g. in Brunei, Acacia auriculiformis and A. cincinnata and pioneer Alphitonia, Commersonia, Dillenia, Melastoma, Macaranga; and that of A. mangium and Melastoma beccarianum in Singapore; ii Modifications of ecosystems e.g. Mimosa pigra in the Greater Mekong Sub-region GMS and that of Lantana camara replacement of native grasses and threaten habitat of wild buffalo; and iii Economic loss e.g. aquatic systems; water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes, water lettuce and yellow burhead Limnocharis flava and L. camara. 2. MATERIAL AND METHOD 2.1 Introduction to the FORIS project To meet the challenges faced by IAS, especially in protected and production forests ecosystem, the Global Environment Facility GEF under its GEF strategic long-term objective SO4 and the Strategic program for GEF IV BD-SP 7 – Invasive Species, funded a full-sized project Project Number:: 0515 entitled: Removing barriers to invasive species management in production and protection forests in Southeast Asia acronym: FORIS Project with United Nations Environmental Program UNEP as the GEF Implementing Agency Project number: UNEP 3957 and the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International CABI as the Project Executing Agency. The duration of the project is 48 months from December 1st 2011 to November 30, 2015 with a total cost of project USD 6,842,721.00 which is the sum of that from the GEF Trust Fund USD 3,081,045; 45 of total funds and from country and partners Co-Financing USD 3,761,676 ; 55 of total funds. GEF approved the project on 28th September, 2011 and the UNEP approval date was 11 January, 2012. Although the project Inception date was on the 16th of January, 2012, the actual start-up date of the project was 1st February, 2012. The project involves four countries, viz., Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam. 2.2 Goal and Objective and key partners: The overall goal of the project is to conserve globally important forests, species and generic diversity in the region and enhance the capacity of the four countries to manage their invasive alien species. The overall objective is to manage SE Asian forests and biodiversity sustainably by reducing negative environmental, economic and human health consequences of IAS Bogor, 21-22 October 2015 445 especially plants in production systems and forests ecosystems of Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam by strengthening existing national frameworks. In addition to the four countries, other key partners in the project include the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity ACB; Biosecurity Queensland Australia; SEAMEO BIOTROP and Satogaeri Fund, Japan. 2.3 Project components and expected outcomes and outputs There are five 5technical and two 2 project management components, ten 10 outcomes; 22 main outputs. The components are as follows: Component 1 : Establishing National Policy and Institutional Frameworks 3 outcomes ;5 main outputs; Component 2: Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia 1 outcome; 3 main outputs; Component 3: National Capacity Building and Institutional Support 1 outcome, 3 main outputs; Component 4: National Pilots on Prevention, control and Management of Priority Forest IAS 1 outcome; 2 main outputs; Component 5: National Information and Awareness Program 1 outcome; 3 main outputs; Component 6: Monitoring and Evaluation Plan 3 outcomes; 6 main outputs and Component 7: Project Management. 2.4 Project management The project is managed by a Project Management Unit PMU coordinated by members from the CABI-Africa and SEA offices. The PMU is headed by an International Project Coordinator IPC from CABI who is supported by a Technical Expert on IAS from CABI- Africa, an accountant and a project administrator. UNEP oversees the implementation of the project and there is an International Steering Committee ISC that meets annually to provide oversight and guidance on work plans, budgets and directions. At the country level, there is also a National Steering Committee comprising of members from various cross- sectors relevant to IAS. At the administrative and operational level, each country is headed by a National Project Director NPD who comes from the National Executing Agency and oversees the activities conducted by a National Project Coordinator who is appointed and funded by the Project. The National Executing Agencies NEAs in the project countries are as follows: Cambodia: General Department of Administration for Nature Conservation and Protection GDANCP, Ministry of Environment.; Indonesia: Forest Research and Development Agency FORDA, Ministry of Forestry MoF; Philippines: Biodiversity Management Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources DENR and Vietnam: Biodiversity Conservation Agency BCA, Vietnam Environment Administration, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment MONRE. 2.5 Project sites The Project also has in each country a pilot site set-up in one of their national parks to evaluate and ascertain suitable IAS management measures against a selected IAS weed species. The exception is Indonesia which has two, The country, pilot sites and the target IAS weed species are as follows: The pilot sites and target species in parenthesis are: i. Cambodia – Steung Sen Core Area Mimosa pigra. ii. Indonesia – Baluran National Park Acacia nilotica and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park BBSNP Merremia peltata iii. Philippines – Allah Valley Watershed Forest Reserve Piper aduncum iv. Vietnam – Cuc Phuong National Park CPNP Mimosa diplotricha Bogor, 21-22 October 2015 446

3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION – KEY HIGHLIGHTS