Southeast Asia is the home of some catastrophic natural disasters causing great loss of life, social and economic disruptions, and environmental damages. Being one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, ASEAN places importance on strengthening the capacity for a fast, collective, and reliable regional response. One of the flagship programmes in this endeavor is the ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) programme. The programme enhances ASEAN’s capacity to rapidly deploy an ASEAN-ERAT team to affected ASEAN Member States during the first phase of a disaster emergency.

Half of emerging plants diseases are spread by global travel and trade, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.1 With the increasing volumes of agricultural trade in the ASEAN region, quarantine procedures must be able to deal with the potential pathways for pests and diseases.  Indeed, ASEAN Member States have long recognised the need to develop and strengthen capacities in taxonomic knowledge to identify and manage quarantine risks associated with agricultural commodities and to accurately diagnose pests and diseases. Endorsed by the ASEAN Sectoral Working Group on Crops, the ASEAN Regional Diagnostic Network (ARDN) has been established. It is “envisaged as a system that provides identifications of organisms of agricultural importance – especially plant pests, diseases, and weeds – detected in the Southeast Asian region.” Among others, ARDN provides a framework for enhancing the national and regional diagnostic capacity by carrying out taxonomic capacity building programs among ASEAN professionals.  Over the past few years, JAIF has been committed to supporting ARDN through the project Taxonomic Capacity Building to Support Market Access for Agricultural Trade in the ASEAN Region. A database of experts and diagnostic laboratories has been developed under this initiative. In addition, nearly 70 plant health professionals have participated in capacity building activities, including two participants from Indonesia and Singapore, who reflected on their experiences during the trainings.  Mr. Hendrawan Samodra, Senior Plant Quarantine Officer, Center for Plant Quarantine and Biosafety, Agricultural Quarantine Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia  Visit to a fruit flies eradication project at the Naha Plant Protection Station in Okinawa©ASEAN Plant Health Cooperation Network (APHCN)  

Cities play an important role in the development of nations. They serve not only as hubs for economic and political activities, but also as centers of cultural interactions among its populace. Home to some of the fastest growing cities, the ASEAN region, like the rest of the world, also faces the challenge of balancing the economic benefits of urbanization and the environmental costs that go with it. In recent years, ASEAN has undertaken humble steps to address this challenge. It recognizes that a collaborative, integrated, and innovative approach is key to promote the development of ASEAN environmentally sustainable cities (ESC). Through the ASEAN ESC Model Cities Programme, a network of 40 ASEAN cities has embarked on a shared journey towards urban sustainability at the local level. Encouraging milestones were reached from the ESC pilot projects as seen from the stories of Da Nang in Viet Nam and Luang Prabang in Lao PDR. Da Nang’s environmentally friendly residential areas   Da Nang, a coastal city, is one of Viet Nam’s famous tourist destinations. Recently, the city took pride in hosting the 6th Global Environment Facility Assembly in 2018 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in 2017. Such opportunities that have put the city in the international stage are encouraging for Da Nang to further step up its efforts to make the city an environmentally friendly city. From 2011 to 2015, the city participated in the ASEAN ESC Model Cities Programme. Its pilot project was on environmentally friendly residential areas. Through the ASEAN ESC Model Cities Programme, Da Nang established three models of environmentally friendly residential areas: 1) Chinh Gian Ward (Thanh Khe District), 2) Hoa An Ward (Cam Le District), and 3) Thai Lai Village in Hoa Nhon Ward (Hoa Vang District). “Like other rapidly developing cities in Viet Nam, Da Nang was facing a solid waste problem, in particular in suburban areas. Littering, low collection rate, and unsegregated waste were common practices, due to the community’s limited awareness,” said Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Deputy Head of Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha shared that she was most proud when her office visited Chinh Gian Ward sometime after the assistance to the pilot project finished. She witnessed huge improvement in the residential area’s waste segregation and waste collection practices. “We hardly saw any litters on the streets,” she added. Instead of comprehensive yet complicated rules, the community introduced simple, practical rules that are unlikely to confuse and be resisted by the majority of residents who are not used to waste segregation. As these rules were agreed upon and enforced by the community members, they took effect quickly. For example, the pilot areas only separated wastes into 1) ‘recyclable’ waste with market value and 2) ‘all other wastes’, which must be placed in properly designated areas, instead of segregating them into at least 4-5 (or more) categories as is done in advanced countries.