Asian Species Action Partnership

Averting the extinction of Southeast Asia’s critically endangered vertebrates

The IUCN Status

LC Least Concern

CR Critically Endangered

EX Extinct

The challenge

A haven and hell for globally threatened mammals

A major concentration of globally threatened mammals are found in Southeast Asia. This reflects the impacts of rapid economic development in and around the region resulting in less habitat and rapid commercialization of the wildlife trade. Worryingly, many Southeast Asian species will go extinct in a ‘business as usual’ conservation model, even though threats such as overexploitation and habitat loss need immediate and sustained action. A strategy is needed to prioritize those species at highest risk of extinction.

The goal

Mobilizing support & galvanizing political will

The Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP) was initiated by the IUCN Species Survival Commission as an interagency coalition to address the extinction risk among the most threatened non-marine vertebrates of Southeast Asia. ASAP mobilizes support where it is urgently needed, draws on the collaborative expertise of conservation practitioners, pools resources and efforts to maximize efficiency, and galvanises political will. By doing this, ASAP hopes to minimise extinctions which could be imminent within the next two to three decades. ASAP aims to:

Identify knowledge gaps and urgent conservation needs for critically endangered species that have no real conservation attention at present;
Integrate ex situ and in situ actions for those species that require intensive population recovery and management;
Increase financial support for ASAP species through new grants or redirecting existing sources of funding;
Raise the profile of ASAP species through targeted communications and political engagement using the IUCN platform;
Integrate ASAP species into relevant policy priorities;
Develop a ‘standard’ or ‘branding’ mechanism as donor guidance for investment in conservation actions/projects directed at ASAP species.

Our Role

Envisioning a 5-year strategy plan

WRS is part of the Governing Council of the ASAP and supports the office of the secretariat. The support provided by WRS helped the secretariat travel and attend relevant meetings and conferences to spread the message of ASAP. WRS also helped integrate the ASAP into the red listing workshops and conferences hosted at its premises. WRS supported the publication of brochures on ASAP for distribution among relevant stake holders and hosted the Governing Council meeting in 2017 and the development of a 5-year ASAP strategy plan. More than 50% of the projects WRS has supported to date are ASAP species requiring urgent conservation action.

The Impact

A growing community of conservationists & advocates for wildlife

Over 60 organisations have signed up to the Partnership so far. In addition to spreading the word at various meetings across Southeast Asia, WRS and ASAP collaborated with the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group and IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group to hold the Regional Sunda Pangolin Conservation Strategy and Action Planning Workshop in Singapore in June 2017. This brought together relevant organisations and experts within the Sunda Pangolin range countries, demand countries and internationally to build on the global conservation action plan “Scaling up Pangolin Conservation”.