Conclusion
Improving strategic planning and assessment processes Approaches such as strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) and spatial analysis and decision support tools can improve upstream decision making and contribute to the protection of natural capital. For example, the SEA of the Strategy and Action Plan for the GMS North-South Economic Corridor provided an important opportunity to work with national and regional planners to consider alternative development scenarios against agreed sustainable development goals. Approaches such as this can provide opportunities for considering green growth opportunities as well as environmental and social safeguards at an early stage in the planning process. These types of tools can be most effective when they are developed in consultation with all stakeholders securing understanding, ownership and confidence in both the methodology and the results. Expanding protected areas networks and integrated land and seascapes Protected areas are a cornerstone of conservation efforts and now cover nearly 13% of the world’s land surface and 2% of its oceans. Recognizing their importance, most of the world’s governments have now committed to expanding these areas to cover 17% of terrestrial areas and 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020. However, many existing protected areas are poorly managed and underfunded. Given that more than 1 billion people—a sixth of the world’s population—depend directly or indirectly on these areas for a significant percentage of their livelihoods, further efforts will be needed to ensure that the ecosystem services provided by protected areas can be maintained. Well-managed protected areas are at the core of the four initiatives presented. In the heart of Borneo alone, there are an estimated 4 million ha of protected areas, with over 1 million more planned. One important approach being promoted in the region is the linkage of protected areas through well managed forest corridors and conservation landscapes. The establishment of a network of functioning nature reserves, parks, and responsibly-managed logging concessions would vastly improves the chances that the Heart of Borneo can meet its ecological and economic needs. The protected areas can provide ecosystem services for tourism, sustainable timber, non-timber forest products, drinking water, and carbon storage. Recognizing this, the governments of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Malaysia have taken collective action and have agreed to identify, assess and establish networks of transboundary conservation zones. Similar approaches are being adopted in other parts of the Asia and Pacific region including 94