Miss Grand Australia National Director Amber Sidney is now at the Gigantes Islands in Iloilo doing promotional videos

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Rafael's Tapas Bar and Restaurant, located at Newport World Resorts, played host to a special welcome dinner for Miss Grand Australia National Director, Amber Sidney, on May 10, 2023. The event was attended by Binibining Pilipinas Grand International 2022 Roberta Tamondong, CEO of Gigantes Islands Tour and Services Rhett Paul Bolivar, and members of the media and vlogging community.

The evening was filled with excitement and glamour as Amber Dew was warmly welcomed by the attendees. She expressed her gratitude for the warm reception and the opportunity to once again visit the Philippines, which she described as a beautiful and welcoming country. Amber's last visit in the country was way back 2019 before the pandemic.

During the dinner, guests enjoyed a delectable selection of tapas and other Spanish-inspired dishes prepared by the culinary team of Rafael's Tapas Bar and Restaurant. The exquisite food, paired with a fine selection of drinks, added to the festive ambiance of the evening.

Binibining Pilipinas Grand International 2022, Roberta Tamondong, also took the opportunity to welcome Amber Dew to the Philippines and expressed her excitement about the upcoming Miss Grand International pageant. She shared her experiences and insights as a pageant titleholder, offering valuable tips and advice to Amber Dew as she prepares for the competition as it's new National Director. Amber and Roberta were co-candidates from last year's Miss Grand International pageant.

The CEO of Gigantes Islands Tour and Services, Rhett Paul Bolivar, also attended the dinner and extended his warmest welcome to Amber Dew. Bolivar highlighted the beauty and diversity of the Philippines and encouraged Amber Dew to explore and experience all that the country has to offer. They are now in Gigantes Islands in Iloilo to do a promotional video shoot.

The welcome dinner was attended by members of the media and vlogging community, who captured the exciting moments of the evening and shared them with their followers.

Overall, the welcome dinner was a great success, and a testament to the warm hospitality and friendship shared between the Philippines and Australia. We wish Amber Dew the best of luck as she prepares for the Miss Grand International 2023 pageant, and look forward to seeing her again in the future as I believe the plan is to bring the top three winners of the pageant here in the country so they could also appreciate the beauty of the Philippines.

Wazzup Pilipinas founder, Ross Del Rosario, facilitated the arrangement for the welcome dinner for Amber.

5th Global Biodiversity Finance Conference in Cape Town Highlights New Opportunities to Finance Conservation

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Planet Earth needs approximately USD950 billion per year to restore and protect imperiled ecosystems necessary to people’s livelihoods, according to a 2020 study by the Nature Conservancy, Paulson Institute and Cornell University. However, only USD121 billion is spent on average per year to conserve biodiversity. To bridge this gap, the United Nations Development Programme’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (UNDP-BIOFIN) convened over 180 biodiversity finance experts and government members for the 5th Global Conference on Biodiversity Finance.

Held in Cape Town, South Africa, the fifth edition of the conference ran from 9 to 11 May 2023 and covered a broad spectrum of opportunities to finance biodiversity such as finance sector engagement, positive incentives, impact investment, repurposing harmful subsidies and community engagement. Delegates from over 45 countries including the Philippines shared their respective insights and experiences to inspire more action to conserve life and nature in every corner of the globe.

“We’re honored to share our hard-learned strategies on finance and conservation,” said Nokutula Mhene of BIOFIN South Africa. Launched in 2015, BIOFIN’s South Africa Programme promotes seven finance solutions to address ecosystem restoration, protected area management and sustainable biodiversity use.

Globally renowned for wildlife reserves like Kruger National Park and Table Mountain, South Africa is the world’s third most biodiverse nation, hosting nearly 100,000 known species of plants and animals – ranging from the enormous African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana) to the tiny Cape Elephant Shrew (Elephantulus edwardii).

“South Africa features some of the continent’s best-known parks, but it is also a biodiversity hotspot with its own challenges. Water scarcity, loss of biodiversity through unsustainable economic practices, poaching and even the lack of adequate financing for protected areas expansion are issues we are tackling head-on. Through creative but practical finance solutions, we hope to help the country meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets and all biodiversity-related UN SDGs,” added UNDP South Africa Resident Representative Dr. Ayodele Odusola.





Changing Conservation Through Biodiversity Finance

Launched in 2012, BIOFIN is a global initiative supporting the development and implementation of national Biodiversity Finance Plans to transform how biodiversity finance is mobilized and allocated. The world's primary global conservation agreement, the Kunming-Montreal agreement, was adopted in December in Montreal and includes 23 targets to be met by 2030.

These include the repurposing of subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least USD500 billion yearly, the mobilization of USD200 billion in annual domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from public and private-sector sources, plus raising international financial flows from developed to developing countries by at least USD30 billion yearly.

 “Every USD1 billion investment reduces the total number of threatened plant and animal species by .57%,” explained BIOFIN Global Manager Onno van den Heuvel at a previously-held dialogue in Manila, the Philippines. 

“This is where BIOFIN comes in,” explained BIOFIN Global Manager Onno van den Heuvel. “We help local communities, civil society, national parks, private entities and government organizations to secure the financing they require to meet their biodiversity objectives on the ground.”

Over the past 11 years, BIOFIN has developed a 41-nation network covering biodiversity-rich regions across Africa, Europe, South and Central America, plus the Asia-Pacific Region. “We continuously refine our strategies, mechanisms and methodologies through national, regional and global learning exchanges such as the 5th Global Conference in Cape Town,” added van den Heuvel.

In South Africa, BIOFIN successfully enhanced investments into businesses that conserve nature by establishing a government-owned Biodiversity Investment platform while offering technical assistance to improve business proposals and facilitate negotiations with investors.

UN Resident Coordinator of South Africa Nelson Muffuh in his goodwill message at the conference opening emphasized the urgent need for actions from all sides – government and the private sector – and to share the responsibility to conserve biodiversity and close the gap for nature financing. UNDP South Africa is extensively working to address this and ensure the inclusion of communities and academia.

African Bush Elephants (Loxodonta africana) stand nearly four meters at the shoulder and are the largest land animals on Earth. South Africa hosts over 20,000 wild elephants, most of which can be found inside Kruger National Park. 

Cave Systems such as the Langun-Gobingob Cave in the Philippines are among the many diverse habitats BIOFIN helps conserve. BIOFIN has been helping the Philippine government stimulate ecotourism through its Year of the Protected Areas (YoPA) Campaign, which concludes this June.

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment of South Africa Barbara Creecy encouraged participants and experts at the 5th Global Conference on Biodiversity Finance to think and keep in mind three critical factors to narrow the financing gap: the link between biodiversity and climate financing and how these can flow from both sides, opportunities to repurpose harmful subsidies in agriculture and other sectors, plus the need for a significant reform of global financial systems.

"Let this not be the third time that we do not meet the global conservation targets. BIOFIN can be the engine that can deliver, if we get it right," said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen during her opening message. She encouraged governments to look at their policies on nature financing, engage the banking and private sectors and think about effective means of implementation. "We know that biodiversity is important. It defines our identity as humans. But policies matter and matter greatly - and this is what BIOFIN can help enable," added Andersen.

In the Philippines, BIOFIN raised over USD10 million for 107 Legislated Protected Areas by pushing for increased congressional financing. Over USD300,000 was raised for terrestrial reforestation through the Mynt and GCash GForest Programme. Its ongoing Year of the Protected Areas campaign aims to convince Filipinos to responsibly visit the country’s 247 protected areas in the wake of flagging attendance spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We must integrate biodiversity into mainstream finance mechanisms to ensure that line agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Bureau of Fisheries (BFAR) and our National Parks System can access funds when they need it the most,” concluded Philippine DENR Assistant Secretary Marcial Amaro Jr., who headed the Philippine delegation. “Creative fundraising, particularly from the private sector, can help restore our biodiversity and jumpstart responsible tourism, especially after the pandemic.”

Instituto Cervantes contributes to the Heritage Month with an invitation to Rediscover and protect San Nicolas District

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On Tuesday, May 16th at 2PM, Instituto Cervantes is presenting a lecture on the historical value of San Nicolas, and an exhibit by the Urban Sketchers depicting the neighborhood today. Scheduled during the Heritage Month, the said events will be held at Instituto Cervantes’ center in Intramuros (Calle Real, Plaza San Luis, Intramuros).

The district of San Nicolas, an area of Manila’s Historic Chinatown, was where the confluence of Spanish and Chinese interaction in the Philippines largely took place, a process that to a high degree contributes to the Filipino identity. Historically, its relevance is in its role in the Philippine revolution. Architecturally, its 19th-century buildings and its streets are evidences of this interaction and are the last vestiges of a bygone era. Regretfully however, the district has decayed.

The good news is that there is a growing awareness of the value of the said district. Instituto Cervantes is organizing the said lecture and exhibit in order to generate interest in the preservation of the heritage of the area and encourage activity there in order to bring it back to the dynamic place it was before, thereby increasing the value of the zone.

The conference is titled “Trade and Revolution: Historical notes on the Jeopardized District of San Nicolas in Manila”, and the exhibit is titled “San Nicolas through the eyes of the Urban Sketchers.” The San Nicolas heritage community was first chosen as Urban Sketchers Manila’s sketchwalk location back in 2022. Advocates then shared with participating artists their hope for this place to continue to hold the memory of old Manila that generations after can appreciate. The exhibit, which consists of some 50 artworks, will be available for viewing everyday, including Sundays, from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM until July 31st.

Admission is FREE and open for all on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please visit our website at http://manila.cervantes.es or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila. You may also contact Instituto Cervantes at 8526-1482 or at cenmni@cervantes.es.