Join us for a Conservation Learning session featuring stakeholders involved in protected areas and key biodiversity areas in neighboring Asian countries and in the Philippines. They will be sharing practices and programs towards financial resiliency amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through this webinar, we aim to:
1. Provide a venue for protected area managers and stakeholders to share practices and programs to address financial resiliency of the PA during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
2. Inspire and encourage PA managers and stakeholders to replicate good practices from other PAs that may lead to financial resiliency post-pandemic

Topics to be covered by the speakers include:

1. Bhutan’s PA lessons– from landscape conservation to ecological resiliency and financial sustainability
2. #BuildBackGreener for Protected Areas after the pandemic – the Conservation License Plate for wildlife and people in Thailand
3. Together for Tamaraws crowdfunding for rangers & wardens displacement
4. Increasing budget support for threatened wildlife — how an NGO successfully advocated to allocate government funds and align activities and programs of LGUs for biodiversity conservation in a KBA with no legal protection
This event is hosted by Biofin Philippines Philippine Parks & Biodiversity and is supported by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and UNDP Philippines.
We are honored to be graced by the Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas- Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group Anna Spenceley, who will deliver a keynote speech and also Cong. Josephine “Nene” Y. Ramirez-Sato, Representative of the Lone District of Occidental Mindoro and principal author of the Philippines’ Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, who will deliver the closing remarks.
Register for free to this event by filling up form: bit.ly/FinancialResiliencyWebinar
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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
DR. ANNA SPENCELEY
Dr Anna Spenceley is a tourism consultant with over 20 years international experience. She is an international expert in her field, with an extensive publication record, rich diversity of project experience, and an extensive international network. She is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group (TAPAS Group), she sits on the board of Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and on the Independent Advisory Panel of Travalyst. Dr Spenceley is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism and the Journal of Ecotourism. See www.anna.spenceley.co.uk

CONGRESSWOMAN JOSEPHINE SATO

Congresswoman Sato, Representative of the Lone District of Occidental Mindoro, is the champion for biodiversity finance in the Philippine House of Representatives (HOR).

In support of her conservation efforts on several protected areas in her home province, especially the home of the Tamaraws, Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park, she spearheaded the passage of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018. She rallied her colleagues in HOR to ensure regular annual funding over 100 protected areas. This has elevated the status of protected areas in the Philippines, generated public awareness, and unlocked opportunities for generating wealth. She also authored bills on Access and Benefits Sharing and Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection, underscoring the need to protect Philippine biodiversity including indigenous peoples and their rights.

Recently, Cong. Sato led the national launching of the crowdfunding campaign ‘Together for Tamaraws’ in Mindoro. The campaign seeks to mobilize resources from various individuals and institutions to support Tamaraw rangers and wardens who were displaced by the Covid 19 pandemic.

ROBERT DUQUIL

Robert Duquil is the Ecosystem Management Specialist (EMS) II/Protected Area Superintendent of DENR-Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park.

He has been with the DENR since 1987 and first started as an Ecosystems Management Specialist I assigned to the Apo Reef Natural Park in 1994. Since then he has been given various positions with assignments in Mt. Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary, CENRO Mamburao, and now Mts. Iglit-Baco NP.

LISA PAGUNTALAN
Lisa is the Executive Director of Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. She is an active wildlife biologist with a lengthy experience mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in the government development programs down to community-based conservation. She had coordinated multi-stakeholder planning at the local and national scale that led to increase in budget allocation for globally threatened endemic species and habitats in the country. Her innovative strategies in conducting population monitoring of threatened species did not only increase the interest of the public to participate but also ensured annual budget appropriations for sustained implementation. She continues to give advice to government agencies, private sector, academic institutions as well as organizations in the implementation of conservation programs focus on threatened endemic species of wildlife and globally threatened habitats in the Philippines.

NGAWANG GYELTSHEN
Ngawang Gyeltshen is the National Coordinator for the Biodiversity Finance Initiative in Bhutan. Before joining UNDP, he worked for the Department of Forests and Park Services under the Royal Government of Bhutan. A forester at heart and by training, he has over 15 years of experience in Bhutan’s natural resource management, protected areas, environmental policy development, conservation finance, and community-based projects. Ngawang studied forestry in India and holds Master’s degrees in Mountain Forestry from Boku University in Austria and Conservation Leadership from Cambridge University in England. He is a Kinship Conservation Fellow.

NIRAN NIRANNOOT
Niran worked for the Federation of Thai Industries where she created policy dialogues between public and private sectors on Free Trade Agreements through various economic forums. She joined the United Nations Office for Project Services on Tsunami recovery programme in the Maldives in the capacity of Monitoring, Reporting and Knowledge Management Officer. She served as the Regional Coordinator for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific by managing projects in the Greater Mekong Sub-region on integrated cross-border value chains development and organic certification system. She has keen experiences working for corporates and international organizations in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East. With her education background in Finance & Banking and Economics, Niran involves herself in the area of finance for nature with the United Nations Development Programme. Now she leads the Biodiversity Finance Initiative—BIOFIN programme in Thailand to implement biodiversity finance solutions in order to close the finance gap through sustainable investment with green financing.