Every year since 2003, the IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL) through the Nature and Poverty Alliance (NPA) has arranged a Synergy and Exchange (Synex) Meeting for the partner organizations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines and Thailand working to address the combined challenges of poverty and environmental degradation. The overarching objectives of these annual Synex meetings are to support development and implementation of joint actions that harness the synergy of working collaboratively with regional and global partners, to build stronger networks and to encourage mutual learning and exchange of ideas.