International Long-Term Ecological Research Network Activities in the East Asia-Pacific Region and Biodiversity Monitoring

Abstract

In October 2010, the tenth meeting of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 10) was held in Nagoya, Japan. It was almost two decades since the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) came into being in December 1993. As we all know, the needs for the eco- nomic utilization of natural resources are ever increasing at local, regional, and global levels. The reasons for the increase of the needs include a diverse array of socioeconomic factors ranging from individual, societal, industrial, governmental, to international levels. In these processes of economic activities, living organisms (plants, animals, microorganisms) are killed and utilized; the habitats for the organ- isms are destroyed; the ecosystems that are the integral entities for ensuring their functionality are degraded or destroyed; and the landscapes that comprise a com- plex of ecosystems are fragmented or destroyed. Ultimately, biological diversities of genes, species, ecosystems, and landscapes are degraded or lost at local, regional, and global levels.