2019 Regional Council meeting, Cebu, Philippines
 
The Philippines Association of Landscape Architects (PALA) chose a great venue for this year's IFLA Asia Pacific Region (APR) Council meeting in Cebu, the Queen City of the South according to Philippine locals. The meeting room was in one of a group of old colonial homes which have been restored and used as restaurants, bars and function venues, known as Circa 1900. The name is apt; nobody is exactly sure when the properties were built, only that they were constructed sometime in the 1900s.
 
The PALA president, Eric Estonido, welcomed delegates and observers to the meeting, followed by an introduction from Damian Tang, the current IFLA APR president, who noted that 10 of the 14 national associations belonging to the IFLA APR were represented in Cebu. The first order of business was a report from Dr Nappy Navarra of PALA, who convened a small group to verify the outcomes of the recent regional election round. His team confirmed Fumiaki Takano from Japan as the new IFLA APR president for the next two years, with Kotchakorn Voraakhom from Thailand elected as the chair of the Climate Change working group (she is also one of TIME magazine's 100 Next people for 2019). Damian was confirmed as the chair of the Finance and Business Planning committee (FBP), and your delegate retained the Hon. Sec. role for another two years. We did not have a candidate for the Communications and External Relations (CER) committee vacancy, but the Hong Kong delegate Bosco So volunteered to take on that role which was then endorsed by the council.
 
With the leadership team confirmed, the meeting discussed and then approved the most significant declaration to have been made by the IFLA APR in recent years, echoing the declaration of a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency made by IFLA in September this year. The full text of the regional Declaration can be found here. 
 
James Hayter, the IFLA president, has already made an eloquent plea for the recognition of our profession in working to minimise the impacts of climate change on our communities and our landscapes, and the APR declaration supports and reinforces his plea. View here.
 
The IFLA APR four standing committees echo those of IFLA, namely FBP,  CER, Education and Academic Affairs, and Professional Practice and Policy. Each of the chairs provided a short report on activities undertaken by their committees and associated working groups over the last year, with plans outlined for the next 12 months. These proposals will be consolidated into a planning document to guide the work of the APR over this period. Plan IFLA which is the model for our APR document is currently under preparation and will be available soon.

Damian Tang then presented his outgoing president's report, drawing attention to significant achievements over the last four years of his leadership. Highlights include the very successful IFLA Asia-Pac awards alternating with the AAPME resilience by design awards (a joint venture with the Americas, Asia Pacific and Middle East regions); a pilot project completed in Timor Leste under the community resilience initiative; a play design challenge established for young landscape architects to tackle in 2020, in association with Kompan; launching of our new regional website; and establishment of the Young Landscape Architects Alliance (YLAA). 
 
Young NZILA members are encouraged to support the YLAA initiative, and are invited to sign up for free here.
 
Damian wished the new president, Takano-san, well in his leadership of the IFLA APR. Mr Takano next addressed the meeting noting two key initiatives that he would like to achieve during his presidential term. The first is to increase regional representation on the council, to encourage associations or individuals from many more of the nations and territories which comprise our region to join IFLA APR. The second is to establish a network for internships across the region. His own practice in Hokkaido has hosted more than 300 students and recent graduates from 34 countries over the last 20+ years and he sees this as a great model for other practices to emulate, providing opportunities for cross-cultural exchange of ideas and innovation in design practice.
 
Our treasurer, Kuang-Yu, tabled a report which showed a healthy balance of funds in the IFLA APR bank account, and proposed a balanced budget for 2020 (showing a modest surplus) which was approved by the meeting. The meeting also confirmed a proposal to continue with external auditing of the regional accounts, to ensure that we are able to report verified details to IFLA upon request.
 
The next World Council meetings were confirmed as follows, with a short presentation from Dr Nor Atiah of ILAM regarding the next World and Regional meetings in Malaysia:
 
2020 - George Town, Penang, 13-15 August 2020
2021 - Sweden
2022 - South Korea
2023 - Turkey
 
And the Regional Council meetings were also confirmed:
 
2020 - George Town, Penang
2021 - Japan
2022 - South Korea
2023 - Taiwan
 
As the last item of business, the meeting was informed that the IFLA APR constitution, and the IFLA constitution, will be considered by a small team to update and simplify both documents, removing duplication and correcting some minor omissions. All three presidents (IFLA APR outgoing, incoming, and PALA) then thanked the attendees for their work on behalf of each member organisation over the last year; the presidents were thanked for their work, in turn. Finally, the delegates were each provided with a review copy of a new publication written by a Viennese cultural researcher and art historian, where she interviews a range of people "…to illuminate how they work with traditional and modern concepts which inform garden arrangement and design in Japan." Look for a review of this book next month!
 
Mike Barthelmeh
 NZILA Delegate to IFLA World Council
IFLA APR Hon. Sec.
Chair, IFLA APR Accreditation Panel