The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report on global warming reaffirms that accelerated efforts to fight the climate emergency are vital.

We must leverage this momentum to address the intertwined crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. This threat is especially acute in the Asia-Pacific, which lies at the heart of the global biodiversity crisis and is home to two-thirds of the world’s population.

The Asia-Pacific is rich in biodiversity found nowhere else on the planet. According to recent projections, as much as 42% of all species in Southeast Asia could be lost by the turn of the century, and at least half of these would be global extinctions.