Signing ceremony of the Thailand/Cambodia TBCA project under CBD/ITTO collaborative initiative. (L to R) H.E. Dr.Y.Kimsean, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, H.E.Mr.S.Khunkitti, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, Mr.E.ZeMeka, Executive Director of ITTO, H.E.Mr.Y.Banno, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, H.E.Mr.S.Kondo, Senior Vice-Minister of the Environment of Japan, and Mr.A.Djoglaf, CBD Executive Secretary.
An exchange of notes for ITTO project "Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation of Mekong Protected Forest Area for the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Thailand" was conducted between Mr Yutaka Banno, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Mr Emmanuel Ze Meka, Executive Director of ITTO, on Thursday, 28th October in Nagoya at a ceremony during the CBD COP10 meeting. Protected forests in the Emerald Triangle border area of Cambodia and Thailand are rich in biodiversity, but due to illegal logging and conversion to farmland, the habitat of trans-boundary wildlife species has become fragmented, with up to two-thirds of primeval forest in this area lost since the year 2000. The project, with a budget of more than $US2 million, will help to reverse the fragmentation and loss of forests in the region. The project will also contribute to the implementation of a wide-ranging memorandum of understanding signed earlier this year between the Secretariats of the CBD and ITTO. ITTO has been funding forest conservation and sustainable community development in the Emerald Triangle region for several years through a series of earlier projects jointly funded by the governments of Switzerland and Japan.