4.0 OVERVIEW OF REGIONAL CHANGE IN BIODIVERSITY The review of the Southeast landscape highlights a rich heritage of biodiversity. The region enjoys high level of species endemism but habitat loss through human activity has placed many species under threat. The Aichi targets, and more recently the 30 by 30 targets are mechanisms put in place by the global community to counter biodiversity loss through increasing the amount of protected areas. In principle, at least, protected areas are safe havens for ecosystems and species to thrive. 4.1 Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas (MPA) of Southeast Asia The current pattern of protected terrestrial and marine areas among Southeast Asia can be seen in Figures 4.1 and 4.2. There is considerable variation in the percentage of protected areas among countries. Strikingly, the level of terrestrial protection is high in countries such as Brunei and Cambodia which stand at 47% and 40% respectively in contrast to countries such as Myanmar (7%) and Indonesia (12%). This may suggest a positive picture for Southeast Asia but unfortunately Brunei and Cambodia have small land areas in comparison to the immensely larger land areas of Indonesia and Myanmar. As such, the higher percentage of protected areas of the smaller countries is unable to offset the lower percentage of protection afforded by larger countries. An examination of the marine protected areas in Southeast Asia yields a worrying picture as there are very few protected areas within the region. Among Southeast Asian countries, (excluding those that are landlocked), Malaysia at 5% has the highest percentage of marine protected areas, Thailand 4%, Indonesia 3%, Philippines 2%, and Cambodia and Vietnam 1%, and the remaining ones, none.
Figure 4.1: Terrestrial protected area: total land area (km2) and terrestrial protected area (%) in Southeast Asia countries in 2021 Source: UN Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC, 2019)
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