The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), which manages the ASEAN Working Group on Social Forestry (AWG-SF) Strategic Response Fund (ASRF), will participate in the 8th Meeting of the Ad-Hoc Steering Committee on Climate Change and Food Security to be held in Bali, Indonesia on March 28 to 29.
ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"SEARCA will present its key initiatives on food security in addressing climate change in the ASEAN member-states (AMS). Likewise, it will share initial gains in the implementation of the ASRF. This includes the implementation of nine projects in eight AMS under its reserved grants and the funding of three grantees to participate in conferences," the agency said in a statement.
Moreover, the initial draft of the paper "Stocktaking of ASEAN Cooperation in Food, Agriculture and Forestry in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals," developed by Roehlano Briones, technical consultant, with support from SEARCA upon the request of the ASEAN Secretariat, will be discussed. Inputs and recommendations from the participants will aid in the preparation of the final draft that will be submitted for endorsement by the relevant ASEAN bodies.
Doris Capistrano, ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) regional advisor, will provide updates on recent developments on the ASEAN Multi-Sectoral Framework on Climate Change: Agriculture and Forestry towards Food Security and ASFCC's future support to it. Various ASEAN working groups and sectoral bodies will share updates on key initiatives and relevant frameworks on climate change.
As a side event of the meeting, the AWG-SF Secretariat will host a meeting of ASFCC partners on March 30 to 31. The meeting will discuss preparations for the Asia Pacific Forestry Week in Incheon, South Korea on June 17 to 21.
