The ASAP Governing Council provides strategic direction to the operation and structure of ASAP. It is made up of individuals representing ASAP Partners, and operates on a rotational system. Currently represented on the Governing Council are:
IUCN Species Survival Commission
Representative: Dr Simon Stuart - Chair
The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) is a science-based network of more than 8,000 volunteer experts from almost every country of the world. SSC’s major role is to provide information to IUCN on biodiversity conservation, the inherent value of species, their role in ecosystem health and functioning, the provision of ecosystem services, and their support to human livelihoods.
Dr Simon Stuart has spent more than 30 years with the IUCN. Until 2016, Simon was Chair of the IUCN SSC, a position he held for two terms, the maximum allowed by IUCN statutes. During his time with IUCN, Simon headed their Species Programme, served as Acting Director General and led the Biodiversity Assessment Unit. Simon is now the Director of Strategic Conservation at Synchronicity Earth, where he works to reduce extinction rates and promote the recovery of threatened species.
TRAFFIC
Representative: Kanitha Krishnasamy - Deputy Chair
TRAFFIC is a leading NGO working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The organisation has over 130 staff working on five continents towards the shared goal of reducing the pressure from illegal and unsustainable trade on biodiversity.
Kanitha Krishnasamy is Director of TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia, where she leads the region’s extensive programme on tackling the trade in threatened species. She brings a wealth of knowledge on wildlife trade and conservation policy, allowing the organisation to work together with agencies and partners towards solutions for wildlife challenges. Prior to joining TRAFFIC, Kanitha worked for the Malaysian Nature Society.
Mandai Nature - ASAP host
Representative: Dr Sonja Luz
Mandai Nature is dedicated to protecting threatened species, nurturing healthy ecosystems and creating vibrant communities where wildlife and people can thrive and co-exist, in Singapore and SE Asia. Through collaborations with like-minded partners, Mandai Nature aims to protect threatened species from extinction, especially those endemic to Asia and often overlooked, including addressing issues of wildlife trade and the fragmentation of habitats. It drives nature-based solutions for climate change while working closely with local communities and organisations to create economic opportunities and invest in building skills and conservation capacity on the ground.
Mandai Nature hosts the Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP) secretariat as well as the Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) Southeast Asia Resource Center, and continues to work in close partnership with the IUCN Species Survival Commission to avert species extinctions in the region.
Dr Sonja Luz currently holds a dual role as Deputy CEO of Mandai Nature. As well as Vice President, Conservation, Research & Veterinary with Wildlife Reserves Singapore. In her capacity as Deputy CEO at Mandai Nature, she is responsible for spearheading new collaborations with conservation partners to further drive species and habitat protection, community engagement and nature-based solutions for climate change in Singapore and Southeast Asia. At WRS, aside from overseeing the veterinary team, her work focuses largely on conservation and wildlife health issues of the ASEAN region. With a keen interest in strengthening the role of zoological facilities in species conservation, Dr Luz is also involved in many regional efforts around integrated and strategic conservation planning and conservation capacity building.
IUCN Asia Regional Office
Representative: Alex McWilliam
Mandai Nature is dedicated to protecting threatened species, nurturing healthy ecosystems and creating vibrant communities where wildlife and people can thrive and co-exist, in Singapore and SE Asia. Through collaborations with like-minded partners, Mandai Nature aims to protect threatened species from extinction, especially those endemic to Asia and often overlooked, including addressing issues of wildlife trade and the fragmentation of habitats. It drives nature-based solutions for climate change while working closely with local communities and organisations to create economic opportunities and invest in building skills and conservation capacity on the ground.
Mandai Nature hosts the Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP) secretariat as well as the Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) Southeast Asia Resource Center, and continues to work in close partnership with the IUCN Species Survival Commission to avert species extinctions in the region.
Dr Sonja Luz currently holds a dual role as Deputy CEO of Mandai Nature. As well as Vice President, Conservation, Research & Veterinary with Wildlife Reserves Singapore. In her capacity as Deputy CEO at Mandai Nature, she is responsible for spearheading new collaborations with conservation partners to further drive species and habitat protection, community engagement and nature-based solutions for climate change in Singapore and Southeast Asia. At WRS, aside from overseeing the veterinary team, her work focuses largely on conservation and wildlife health issues of the ASEAN region. With a keen interest in strengthening the role of zoological facilities in species conservation, Dr Luz is also involved in many regional efforts around integrated and strategic conservation planning and conservation capacity building.
Bogor Agricultural University
Representative: Dr. Mirza D. Kusrini
Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia is represented on the ASAP Governing Council by the Department of Conservation of Forest and Ecotourism. The department’s mandate is the development of science and technology for forest resources conservation.
Dr Mirza Kusrini is a lecturer in the Department of Conservation of Forest and Ecotourism at Bogor Agricultural University. Her research is mostly on the biodiversity and ecology of amphibians. She conducted research on population monitoring and behavioural ecology of ASAP species Bleeding Toad Leptophryne cruentata. Her work on amphibian conservation started from a Conservation Leadership Programme award to work on amphibians of Mount Gede Pangrango National Park in the 2004-2007. This has led to other awards, and the establishment of Indonesian Herpetological Society which she had chaired from 2009-2013.
BirdLife International (Asia)
Representative: Yong Ding Li
YONG Ding Li is regional flyway coordinator for Asia at BirdLife International. Based in BirdLife’s Singapore office, Ding Li oversees and coordinate projects on the conservation of migratory species and wetlands, with a particular focus on Southeast and East Asia. Ding Li studied conservation biology at the Australian National University and spent his PhD years looking at biodiversity indicators in the Australian countryside for insects, birds and mammals. He has worked widely across tropical Asia, and written several books on the birds and biodiversity of the region.
Philippine Eagle Foundation
Representative: Dennis Salvador
The Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) is a private non-profit organization dedicated to saving the critically endangered Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) and its rainforest habitat. It is the Philippines’ leading wildlife conservation organization employing conservation breeding, modern state-of-the-art field research techniques, community-based conservation, and public education. Through its programs, the PEF has bred 29 Philippine Eagles and other raptors in captivity, reached millions through its public education program and protected 140,000 hectares of forests through its 14 indigenous community-partners and about 500 forest guards within 20 Philippine Eagle territories across the archipelago. In addition to improving knowledge about its target species, the PEF and its collaborators have discovered new species of flora and fauna in areas where eagles occur. Its novel culture-based conservation approach has resulted in not only the effective protection of keystone species but the enrichment of cultural traditions and customs.
Dennis Salvador has been the Executive Director of the PEF for 35 years. He also serves as the program committee chairman of the Forest Foundation Philippines, and serves in several local and national councils and organizations. He has earned several awards for his work in wildlife conservation, including the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines.
GreenViet
Representative: Ha Thang Long
GreenViet is a Vietnamese non-profit organisation that works to raise awareness about the country’s biodiversity. The organisation has over 200 volunteers that help to monitor illegal activities in Son Tra Nature Reserve. This forest is home to the endangered red-shanked douc langur.
Dr Ha Thang Long is the Chairman of GreenViet. He has worked in the wildlife conservation field since 1999 in the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre, Cuc Phuong National Park. Following a study of Grey-shanked Douc Langur ecological behaviour, Long founded GreenViet and signed the organisation up to the Biodiversity Programme of Frankfurt Zoological Society. He has gone on to establish the Biodiversity Conservation Centre in central Vietnam, and is currently an invited lecturer in biodiversity conservation at Danang University.
Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia
Representative: James Biggs
The Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) is the peak body representing the collective voice of zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries and wildlife parks across Australasia. Each year, ZAA members connect 22 million visitors with nature, educate 1.1 million students about wildlife, and contribute over $20 million to conservation. Through the ZAA Species Management Program (SMP), ZAA administers over 100 ex situ programs in support of conservation, research and advocacy; and, through the ZAA Threatened Species Unit (TSU), also known as the IUCN SSC Centre for Species Survival (CSS) Australasia, ZAA supports the Australian Government with extinction risk assessment of species for protection under Australia’s national environment legislation, as well as facilitating the development of statutory conservation planning instruments for threatened species.
James Biggs has worked across the ex situ sector for ~20 years and is now Director of Conservation and Population Management, overseeing the ZAA SMP and TSU Teams. Through building partnerships, he is responsible for ensuring that sector outputs in conservation continue to grow. James works with scientists and others in applying cutting-edge science and structured decision-making processes to fix real-world problems in biodiversity conservation. James drives ZAAs engagement at the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD). He is also Director of the IUCN SSC CSS Australasia and is involved with IUCN SSC Specialist Groups, including the Australasian Monotreme and Marsupial SG, Conservation Planning SG, and Animal Biobanking Conservation SG. He is committed to ensuring that conservation assessment, planning and action in the Australasia region is integrated across the in situ ex situ spectrum.
Myanmar Biodiversity Fund
Representative: Dr. Naw May Lay Thant
Myanmar Biodiversity Fund (MBF) is the first Conservation Trust Fund in Myanmar and registered as a non-profit company in July 2019 aiming to connect people, businesses, and biodiversity by maintaining biodiversity integrity and supporting nature-positive businesses. Dr. Naw May Lay Thant was in the first batch of lady pioneers to be admitted to the B. Sc (Forestry) degree programme at the University of Forestry penetrating a field of study that had been previously dominated completely by men in Myanmar. Dr. Thant started her career as a Range Officer in the Forest Department, Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division until she left government service in 2009. Dr. Thant joined WCS in 2013 and has served as a technical coordinator, landscape coordinator, and the Deputy Country Director of WCS Myanmar Programme. In 2023, Dr. Thant joined MBF as a Deputy CEO taking responsibilities raising funds, supporting sustainability of conservation finances, developing protected area management plans and its conservation investment plans, enhancing the community based natural resource management, strengthening capacity building and conservation education, empowering local communities and women, and engaging multi-stakeholders. Dr. Thant focused her post graduate in the study of primate and involved in the recent finding of new species, Popa Langur.