/issue/2017.04

Dubbed as the social networking capital of the world many times in the past, Philippines' Internet usage continues to grow. Its online population has reached 60 million, a staggering 58% penetration rate. In early 2017, Statista, one of the leading statistics companies on the internet, predicts this number to reach around 70 million in 2018. According to a report by the Huffington Post, Internet access in the Philippines has grown by 500% which is easily the fastest in Southeast Asia.

Philippine Internet users are also an active lot. According to Global Web Index, an average Filipino, aged between 16-64 spends 9 hours online via a smart device or a computer. They also are very active on social sites with the number reaching around 4 and a half hours per day spent online on social media platforms. They have a staggering 60 million Facebook population and 90% of these are connected by mobile devices.

E-Commerce is another trend in the region with Statista reporting the revenue in the E-Commerce market amounting to $1,237 million in 2017. This is expected to grow at a rate of 21% yearly and reach $2,345 million in 2021. When breaking it down, we can see locals spending most of their money on electronic gadgets, toys and fashion. Lazada, the powerful E-Commerce player in Southeast Asia had a whopping 53.1 million visits in February 2016 alone.

For every small business out there looking to expand to the Philippines, social media definitely cannot be ignored. Having a solid social media plan here is essential to success. Start driving traffic to your social media account with a regional significant and locally recognized web address by redirecting your .Asia domain to your social platform of choice.

With the aim of gathering the views of young people and engaging them in active human rights discussion online, NetMission.Asia had collaborated with Sinar Project to organize the Youth for Rights 2017 workshop as a part of the Access Now program initiative.

Youth for Rights 2017 was a one-day workshop event held on March 28, 2017 in Brussels. During the workshop, young adults from age 18 to 30 were invited to meet with the leaders of the digital rights community to discuss issues regarding policy, advocacy, and momentum building. Technological issues such as freedom of expression, data protection and privacy, diversity and digital inclusion, human rights, and trade were also hotly debated.

By participating in the discussion, the workshop prepared the individuals for the RightsCon meeting which took place on March 29 – 31, 2017. The RightsCon meeting agenda included sessions on topical issues where young adults can actively participate by delivering their own enlightening talk on the subject of digital rights.

Official Website: http://youth4rights.asia
Article on Better Internet for Kids Portal:
i.go.asia/2punpis

The ICANN community went back to the Nordic lands mid- March for the first meeting in 2017. Hygge is a way of a life in Denmark, the community huddled down for business as usual as focus continued on CCWG-Accountability Workstream 2 [read the chairs statement here: i.go.asia/2q0ibKX ] and the CCWG Auction proceeds. Intensive reviews of the new gTLD program, and question of when the next round (or possibly a continuous open process) is still on the forefront of everyone's minds.  New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP worktracks 1-4 are still in full swing. There was a call for active participation in Work Track 4: Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) / Technical & Operations. This is especially important in the APAC region, as the IDNs will be crucial to bringing the next billion online in their own language. The Registry stakeholder group presented their work to the APAC space for the first time, and suggested that the APAC community form an interest group to facilitate better participation in RySG working groups.

Shifts in familiar faces were also a running theme in Copenhagen, as Krista Papac was named the new Complaints Officer, moving from her previous role with the GDD team. Two stalwarts also announced their retirement, Glenn de St. Gery from the GNSO secretariat and Chuck Gomes with the community celebrating their commitment and contributions to the ICANN community throughout the years. It's hard to imagine the GNSO without these two pillars but the rest of us will just have to channel the great spirit both brought to the community and ask ourselves "What Would Chuck Do?" when we get mired deep in the weeds of policy discussions.

Want to meet the DotAsia team in person? Look out for us next at the GDD Summit in Madrid and the policy meeting at ICANN 59 in Johannesburg!

Spinning off with Jamie Oliver Food Foundation's Year of Food Revolution Campaign, Go.Asia is partnering up with Clean Air Network (CAN) to launch our own campaign, Foodmiles: Healthy Food. Healthy Air.. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of the pollution effects of food transportation.

95% of Hong Kong's daily food consumption is consisted of imports that have made their journey to Hong Kong through long distance of travel. What we have often overlooked is the effects of these transportation processes on the increasing carbon emission level. The longer the distance travelled the more cO2 is released as a result. We believe that by introducing more local food items into our everyday diet we will help reduce carbon emission by shortening food miles.

We will start our campaign with trade activities and promotions in April, while connecting with Food Revolution ambassadors in the Asia region to kick start our online cooking challenge in May. Please stay tuned for more updates on our campaign website www.foodair.asia

Date: 26-29 July 2017
Venue: Mahitaladhibesra Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Local Hosts: Chulalongkorn University & National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission
Theme: "Ensuring an inclusive and sustainable development in Asia Pacific: A regional agenda for internet governance"

Register Now at http://2017.aprigf.asia

Conservationist celebrate as a recent breeding population of tigers was discovered in Thailand. Part of Indochinese sub-species, images of the Panthera tigris corbetti, including six cubs, were captured by camera traps in eastern Thailand throughout last year. This is a confirmation of the world's second known breeding population of the endangered Indochinese tiger where only an estimated 221 remain in the wild.

The only other growing population - the largest in the world with about three dozen tigers - is based in a western forest corridor in Thailand near the border with Myanmar.

Aggressive poaching, weak law enforcement and habitat loss have contributed to the dire dwindling of the species in southern China, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Proliferation of illegal wildlife trade online directly impacts the survival of tigers, to learn more about what you can do to #doubletigers by 2022 visit ajitora.asia and join Aji's mission!