Azlan Othman

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is tapping into the power of the youth to tell stories from the field about biodiversity, its values, and the many ways to safeguard it.

Through its newest programme, the Young ASEAN Storytellers (YAS), the ACB is calling all ASEAN youth to showcase their skills and talents in storytelling as an essential part of the bid to highlight what life in harmony with nature would look like.

According to a press statement, 20 budding content creators and storytellers from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam will get first-hand experience in impactful storytelling for biodiversity conservation.

“We at the ACB believe that this generation is the torchbearer of our region’s future. We see that the youth of today are more driven to contribute to saving our planet, most especially in conserving the region’s rich natural and cultural heritage, and we are proud to be amplifying their voices through this programme,” said ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim.

Lim also underscored the importance of the youth’s role in connecting with others, given their knack for using innovative online platforms and their wide reach.

The statement adds, “These platforms and tools can cross boundaries and connect communities across the region to find solutions to the multiple environmental challenges we collectively face.”

ASEAN youth aged 18 to 35 who are eager to explore, passionate about nature, and are good storytellers are encouraged to be part of YAS.

Stories created through photography, writing, art, filmmaking, or other forms of creative storytelling and conveying ideas are welcome in this new programme, it was shared.

“Exciting opportunities await the young aspirants,” said the statement. “Aside from the grant that they will be receiving to produce their stories, they will undergo a series of learning sessions with biodiversity and storytelling experts, as they embark on an immersive trip to the region’s ‘creme of the crop’ protected areas–the ASEAN Heritage Parks.”

ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHPs) are protected areas of high conservation importance, preserving in total a complete spectrum of representative ecosystems of the ASEAN region.

These areas are established to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of ASEAN’s rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas, and to generate greater collaboration among the ASEAN member states in preserving their shared natural heritage.

The AHPs that YAS will be visiting in each ASEAN member state include: Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park in Brunei Darussalam; Virachey National Park in Cambodia; Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia; Nam Ha National Protected Area in Laos; Taman Negara National Park in Malaysia; Inle Lake Wildlife Sanctuary in Myanmar; Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park in the Philippines; Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore; Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park, Khao Sok National Park or Ao Phang Nga-Mu Ko Surin-Mu Ko Similan National Park in Thailand; and at Hoang Lien National Park in Vietnam.

The statement said that the YAS will then create compelling biodiversity stories that will be shared across media platforms. Applications are open until March 31 and results will be released in May.

The YAS programme is supported by the European Union (EU), through the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in ASEAN (BCAMP) Project; and the ASEAN-Germany Cooperation in Biodiversity through the Second Phase of the Institutional Strengthening of the Biodiversity Sector in the ASEAN (ISB II) Project and the Small Grants Programme (SGP).

The ASEAN Youth Biodiversity Programme website provides additional information on the YAS programme, where it explains the reasoning behind the focus on storytelling. “Nature is disappearing. Fast. According to the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019), the rate of biodiversity loss and species extinctions are accelerating, gravely impacting people around the world.”

The website adds, however, that “this story does not need to have a sad ending. We can still reverse the trend, stop unsustainable exploitation of species, restore ecosystems, shift away from fossil fuels and change the way we produce, process, transport, consume, and dispose food and commodities”.

“We need ‘transformative change’, a fundamental, system-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.”

It also highlights that nature is an irreplaceable source of life and inspiration. “Pages after pages of statistics showing nature in decline will not be enough to persuade all of society to achieve transformative change. We need stories to inspire and catalyse action to protect our natural and cultural heritage. There is power in a good story—to build understanding, to move people to action, and to be remembered.

“Youth of today are powerful storytellers and changemakers with important stories to tell. Through a variety of platforms and mediums, young people have the power to connect, influence, and inspire”.

GUALEGUAYCHU, ARGENTINA (AFP) – An Argentine family is about to finish the trip of a lifetime: they have covered five continents in a 1928 jalopy on an adventure that began in 2000, while bringing into the world and raising four kids who are now adolescents.

The Zapp family – Herman and Candelaria and those children – have driven a total of 362,000 kilometres and have now stopped off in this town on the border with Uruguay before their scheduled arrival on Sunday back where they started on January 25, 2000 at the Obelisk, a monument in downtown Buenos Aires.

“I have very mixed feelings. We are ending a dream, or fulfilling a dream,” Herman told AFP.

“What will come now? Thousands of changes, thousands of options,” said the 53-year-old, who is already thinking of sailing around the world.

Candelaria, who was 29 when the trip began and is now 51, said her biggest and best discovery was the people encountered along the way.

“People are wonderful. Humanity is incredible,” said Candelaria.

She said the family visited no fewer than 102 countries, although sometimes they had to take detours because of wars or other kinds of conflict. The couple had been married six years, had good jobs and had just built a house, with plans to have kids, too, when wanderlust hit. Their round-the-world journey began with a backpacking trip in Alaska. And somebody offered them a car, a 1928 model of an American make called Graham-Paige. The engine was bad and the paint looked terrible. “It would not even start,” said Candelaria Zapp.

“The seats are not great, nor is the muffler. It does not have air conditioning, either. It is a car that you have to keep your eye on. It does not look comfortable, but it was marvellous,” said Herman.

“It was good in cities, in mud and on sand,” he added.

They went through only eight sets of tyres in 22 years and only twice needed to do major engine work.

Herman shows off the roadster by opening up a canvas on the top that forms a sort of tent for the kids to sleep under when it was time to camp out.

“It is nicer now than when it first came out,” he said of the modified uber-vintage vehicle.

While out on the road, and with the first two kids born – Pampa, now 19, came into this world in the United States (US) and Tehue, 16, during a visit back to Argentina – they enlarged the car by actually cutting it in half and adding 40cm of length and another seat.

That made room for the arrival of Paloma, now 14 and born in Canada, and Wallaby, 12, down under in Australia.

The last additions to the family were a dog named Timon and a cat called Hakuna during a stay in Brazil, where the Zapps were stranded for a while in 2020 because of COVID-19.

More on that car, which looks like something out of a gangster movie: the trunk acts like a kitchen storage area, and the heat of the engine is used to cook or heat water. Clothes and tools are stored under the seats. And for all these years, it was home sweet home. “It is a small house but with a huge backyard, with beaches, mountains and lakes. If you do not like the view, you can change it,” Herman quipped.

On the side of the car is a sign that reads “A family travelling around the world.”

The Zapps usually stayed as guests at people’s houses – they estimate around 2,000 altogether.

“Humanity is incredible,” Candelaria said of people’s hospitality. “Many helped just to be part of a dream.”

But it was not all easy going. Herman once caught malaria, the family drove across Asia during the bird flu outbreak, and had to deal with Ebola in Africa and dengue fever in Central America.

Here on the streets of Gualeguaychu, people honk their horns when they see the Zapps’ old Graham-Paige. Vintage car buffs have their picture taken with it.

And some buy a copy of the book the Zapps have written about their adventure, entitled Catching a Dream. They have sold about 100,000 copies and say this is their main source of revenue for all this travelling. For the record, they did the Americas, Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe. They touched Mount Everest, ate duck eggs in Asia, danced with native people in Namibia, entered the tomb of King Tut in Egypt and sailed across many a sea.

For the kids, it was an unforgettable experience. They did their studies remotely and with home learning with Candelaria.

Now, in-person classes await them in Argentina.

“What I most want to do is make a lot of friends,” said Paloma, the 14-year-old.