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llly Yanah, a University of Indonesia’s School of Biology graduate, specialized in vascular plants taxonomy. Simplified, she does classifications for plants with vessels.

One day she was catching insects in the Alas Purwo National Park with a net. The next day she had to learn about bird species and how they sow seeds in the rainforest.

Putu Diana is a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University, specializing in forest ecology. She too had to undertake scientific activities she said were “basic” and that she had never done before. Nevertheless, both women said they benefited from the international training course on “Developing the Capacity for Teaching Biodiversity and Conservation in the Asia Pacific Region”, held by the Association for Tropical Biology — Asia-Pacific Chapter (ATBC-AP) and the Center for Biodiversity Strategies of the University of Indonesia.

The training program, held from July to September in various locations such as Alas Purwo, involved over 15 young scientists selected from several countries, including China and Sri Lanka. The course was commended by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, based in Japan. “I discovered better methods of data gathering,” Diana said.

Elly said insects were not her favorite subject because to her they were complicated, but the training helped her develop more interest. “I learned how insects play roles in the life of humans and ecology in an interesting way... I was also given more responsibility in preserving and classifying them,” she said.

According to ATBC-AP’s chairman, Mochamad Indrawan, the training course aimed to increase the participant’s scientific capacity, especially regarding their research abilities, enabling them to practice their knowledge more holistically.

“By using a social-cultural and political, holistic approach, we hope that through this training, science can contribute to society, conservation and sustainable development,” Indrawan said.

Joint course leader Rhett D. Harrison from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), China, said the training and knowledge-enriching activities were essential to ensure scientists could provide stakeholders with proper advice on how to manage the environment. The focus of the training is on tropical forests, which is essential to the global environment, Harrison said.

“[Tropical forests] harbor a very large portion of our biodiversity. For different reasons people feel they have a responsibility toward that.”

According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) website, around 140,000 square kilometers of tropical rainforests are destroyed each year, making it one of the most endangered habitats on earth.

The lecturers explained how insects, birds and other creatures, have the ability to disperse seeds — sometimes exclusive ones — in their lifetimes. Thus, an elimination of one could lead to others.

“We have to identify insect families and genuses... This is very necessary, because as an ecosystem, ecology is interactive between organisms,” Dossa Gbadamassi, a participant from Benin, said.

He said the training was relevant because many of Benin’s forests were becoming extinct due to industrialization and unsustainable usage of resources.

A.A Thasun Amarasinghe, a participant from Sri Lanka, said one of the most valuable outcomes of the training program was the networking and cultural exchange potentials.

“The major benefit is making links with Southeast Asia’s young scientists. Many people work in isolation... I have had a good experience because of this program. I’ve learned about other cultures and ways of thinking. It was very helpful,” Thasun said.