Los Baños, Laguna―A Philippine government-hosted treaty organization and another international agency based here led a multi-sectoral workshop on mainstreaming biodiversity in food and agriculture in Bangkok, Thailand from Dec. 4 to 6.
The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture in collaboration with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity said the workshop was co-hosted by Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Leah Lyn Domingo, SEARCA public relations specialist, said the workshop at the Amarai Watergate in Bankok was conducted to provide a platform for the environment and agriculture sectors in the ASEAN community and discuss and develop a common understanding of agro-biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.
Representatives of the environment and agriculture ministries of ASEAN Member States, relevant ASEAN sectoral bodies, the ASEAN Secretariat, development partners, and relevant networks from the education and research sectors participated the said workshop.
Domingo said the multi-sectoral workshop also intends to identify and define possible areas of collaboration and supportive processes among the relevant ASEAN sectoral bodies and development partners towards mainstreaming biodiversity in the agriculture sector.
Among the expected outputs of the workshop is a pilot project in agro-biodiversity that includes the recommended elements and structure of a multi- and cross-sectoral coordination mechanism among and between the relevant ASEAN bodies for mainstreaming, conservation, and sustainable use of agro-biodiversity in the ASEAN region.
"Mainstreaming agro-biodiversity is the first joint thematic initiative of ACB and SEARCA which proposes to facilitate inter-sectoral discussion towards a common understanding of conservation and sustainable use of agro-biodiversity in the ASEAN," Domingo said.
The workshop is the second collaboration of SEARCA and ACB under a formal agreement to pursue common objectives in biodiversity and agriculture signed in July 2016.
In September 2017, the first major activity of this cooperation was a regional workshop on mainstreaming biodiversity in agriculture for sustainable development and food security in Southeast Asia in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
