Once they are gone, they cannot be rebuilt.
In the ancient temple city of Luang Prabang, representatives of nine nations gathered in May 2026 to formalize a $227 million commitment to the primary forests of Southeast Asia and the Pacific — ecosystems that are simultaneously the region's ecological backbone, its carbon archive, and the living homeland of Indigenous peoples. Convened through a partnership between IUCN and the FAO, the initiative reflects a growing recognition that forests cannot be saved by declaration alone, but only by reimagining the relationship between agriculture and the land it has long consumed. The question now is whether political commitment can survive contact with the slow, difficult work of implementation.
- Primary forests across Southeast Asia are vanishing under the pressure of agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, and climate disruption — and unlike degraded land, they cannot be restored once lost.
- Indigenous Peoples and local communities whose identities and livelihoods are inseparable from these forests face an existential threat as land-use conversion accelerates across the region.
- Nine governments have pooled $227 million — combining GEF grants with co-financing — into a coordinated program targeting forest protection in Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, and beyond.
- The strategy deliberately rejects the fortress conservation model, instead betting on integrated landscape approaches like agroforestry to prove that feeding people and protecting ecosystems are not mutually exclusive goals.
- The initiative is anchored to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and timed to amplify global momentum ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity, raising the political stakes for follow-through.
On a May morning in 2026, Luang Prabang became the site of a regional reckoning. Government officials, Indigenous representatives, scientists, and business leaders convened to address the accelerating loss of Southeast Asia and the Pacific's primary forests — ecosystems that store irreplaceable biodiversity and carbon, regulate water cycles, sustain agriculture, and serve as the cultural and material foundation for millions of Indigenous and local people. The pressure on these forests is relentless: land cleared for crops, roads cut through canopy, temperatures rising. And what is lost cannot be rebuilt.
The gathering inaugurated the Southeast Asia and the Pacific Forests Integrated Program, co-led by IUCN and the FAO. The program channels $42.4 million in Global Environment Facility grants alongside $185 million in co-financing from partner governments and institutions — $227 million in total — into a regional coordination framework and country-level projects in Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand, with nine nations participating overall.
Critically, the program does not treat conservation and agriculture as opposing forces. Its integrated landscape approach — including agroforestry systems that embed food production within or alongside forest ecosystems — is designed to decouple farming from deforestation. FAO's Alue Dohong stressed that forest protection must align with agricultural priorities and manage cross-border trade-offs. IUCN's Dindo Campilan underscored the irreversibility of what is at stake: the biodiversity, carbon, and cultural heritage held within these forests exist nowhere else.
The conference was timed to precede the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22, deliberately linking the initiative to global implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Regional institutions including ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission were engaged to build channels for shared learning and coordinated action.
The financing is secured. The science is unambiguous. The partnerships are formed. What remains is the harder test — whether nine nations can sustain the political will to protect forests while delivering tangible benefits to the communities whose lives depend on them.
In Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, government officials, Indigenous representatives, scientists, and business leaders gathered on a May morning in 2026 to confront a problem that has no easy solution: how to save the primary forests that hold the region together—ecologically, economically, and culturally—before they disappear entirely.
The forests of Southeast Asia and the Pacific are not abstractions. They anchor the region's food systems. They harbor species found nowhere else on Earth. Their soil and vegetation store carbon at a scale that matters to the global climate. They regulate water cycles that agriculture depends on. For Indigenous Peoples and local communities, they are home—the foundation of identity, livelihood, and survival. Yet the pressure is relentless: land clearing for agriculture, roads and dams, the cascading effects of warming temperatures. The forests are shrinking, and once they are gone, they cannot be rebuilt.
The gathering marked the first annual conference of the Southeast Asia and the Pacific Forests Integrated Program, a coordinated regional effort designed to reverse course. The program, co-led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, brings together $42.4 million in direct grants from the Global Environment Facility alongside $185 million in additional financing from partner governments and institutions. That $227 million flows into a regional coordination project and three country-specific initiatives in Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand. Nine countries have committed to participate in the broader framework.
The strategy is not to fence off forests and call it done. Instead, it rests on what officials call integrated landscape approaches—ways of managing land that weave together conservation and agriculture rather than treating them as enemies. Agroforestry, which grows crops within or alongside forest systems, is one example. The core idea is to decouple farming from forest destruction, to show that you can feed people without erasing the ecosystems that make feeding people possible in the first place.
Alue Dohong, FAO's Assistant Director-General for Asia and the Pacific, framed the challenge plainly: primary forest conservation cannot work in isolation. It requires aligning the priorities of agriculture and forestry, managing the trade-offs between competing land uses, and scaling solutions that work across borders and sectors. Dindo Campilan, IUCN's Regional Hub Director for Asia and Oceania, emphasized what is at stake—the biodiversity, carbon, and cultural heritage locked inside these forests cannot be recreated once lost. The program, he said, aims to turn urgency into action.
The conference was timed deliberately to precede the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22, positioning primary forests at the center of global efforts to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a landmark agreement that commits nations to protect and restore ecosystems and ensure equitable benefit-sharing. The gathering also strengthened ties with regional institutions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, creating channels for countries to learn from one another and coordinate implementation.
What happens next depends on whether the nine participating countries can sustain political will, whether communities on the ground see tangible benefits, and whether the integrated approaches actually work at scale. The money is committed. The partnerships are in place. The science is clear. What remains is the harder part: translating agreement into the daily work of protecting forests while supporting the people who depend on them.
Notable Quotes
Primary forest conservation cannot succeed in isolation – it requires aligning agriculture and forestry priorities and scaling integrated solutions such as agroforestry.— Alue Dohong, FAO Assistant Director-General for Asia and the Pacific
The biodiversity, carbon stocks and cultural heritage of primary forests cannot be recreated once lost.— Dr Dindo Campilan, IUCN Regional Hub Director for Asia and Oceania
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does this initiative focus specifically on primary forests rather than all forests?
Primary forests are the irreplaceable ones. They've never been clear-cut or heavily logged. They hold species and genetic diversity that took millennia to develop, and carbon stores that secondary forests can't match. Once they're gone, you can't get them back.
The program mentions aligning agriculture and forestry. Aren't those inherently in conflict?
They have been, by design. We've treated them as separate problems. But the real insight here is that you can grow food within or alongside forest systems—agroforestry does this—if you're willing to change how you farm. It's not about choosing one or the other.
Nine countries committed. That's significant, but is it enough?
It's a start, and the coordination matters. But success depends on whether the money actually reaches communities, whether farmers see it as worth their while, and whether governments enforce protections when pressure mounts. The framework is there. The implementation is the test.
What happens to Indigenous communities if these forests are protected?
That's the whole point. These forests are their home. Protection means their rights are recognized, their knowledge is valued, and their livelihoods are secured. Without that, conservation fails. With it, you have stewards who've been managing these ecosystems for generations.
The article mentions climate change as a threat. How does forest protection address that?
Forests store carbon. Protecting them keeps that carbon in the ground instead of the atmosphere. But it's also defensive—as climate changes, intact forests are more resilient than degraded ones. They regulate water cycles better, support more biodiversity, and can adapt to stress.