Conservationist Dr Theresa Mundita Lim has concluded her six-year term as executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).
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Lim was appointed head of the ACB in 2018, becoming the body’s first female executive director. Prior to this appointment, she chaired the Philippines’ Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) as its director for 15 years under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Lim is succeeded by Clarissa Arida, senior director of the ACB’s programmes department, as acting executive director. The body is still in the process of selecting its new executive director.
In a farewell address, Lim noted that the ACB marked her first time leading an international organisation – after serving most of her career as a national official in the Philippine government.
“This shift was both daunting and exciting, pushing me to navigate challenges that came with leading [biodiversity conservation] on a regional scale and adapting to a broader, more complex landscape of international collaboration,” she said.
During her tenure, Lim remobilised the Asean Biodiversity Fund, a sustainable financing mechanism for nature and biodiversity conservation efforts in the region, and launched the Asean Business and Biodiversity Initiative, a regional platform championing nature-based solutions in the strategic priorities of the region’s business sector. She was also pivotal in the declaration of at least 22 new protected Asean heritage parks.
At COP16 in Colombia earlier this year, Lim and the ACB led the launch of the Asean Biodiversity Plan – a framework that outlines how Asean member states can scale up the implementation of their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP) to contribute to global biodiversity ambitions.
Between 2017 and 2018, Lim also chaired the subsidiary body on scientific, technical, and technological advice at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Dr Theresa Mundita Lim is succeeded by Clarissa Arida, senior director of programmes at ACB, as acting executive director. Image: Asean Centre for Biodiversity
A wildlife veterinarian by profession, she has led regional technical working groups on island biodiversity, migratory sharks and wildlife enforcement under programmes by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the CBD, among others.
Established in 2005, the ACB was created by the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation and coordination on the conservation and sustainable use of the region’s natural ecosystems and biological diversity.
