ASEAN and APEC seek greater collaboration in food security and climate change

Photo by APEC Climate Center

By: Kristine Joy Villagracia

 

The ASEAN Climate Resilience Network (ASEAN-CRN) participated in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Climate Symposium 2017 with the theme “Building resilient agro-food systems from production to consumption” from 18-20 August 2017 in Can Tho, Vietnam. Hosted by the APEC Climate Center (APCC) and the National Hydro-Meteorological Service of Vietnam, the event has gathered climate scientists and policymakers with the aim of bridging the gap between climate science and its implementation through discussions on cutting edge science, sharing of best practices, and policy advancement.

ASEAN-CRN was invited by APEC to share the initiatives of the ASEAN region in building the resilience of the agriculture sector for food security in one of the panel sessions titled Large-scale Holistic Approaches to Climate Risk Management with the hope of building stronger cooperation with the focus on climate change.

In the presentation, various frameworks set up by ASEAN to collectively respond to the challenges of climate change have been shared. Among these is the establishment of ASEAN-CRN which acts as a platform for regional exchange where ASEAN policy makers from different sectors can come together and share their knowledge and experiences with other stakeholders and jointly work for the common goal of strengthening the agricultural sector in Southeast Asia in the face of climate change. Over the course of three years, the significant progress of ASEAN-CRN in promoting climate resiliency within the region has been highlighted. This has been done through the conduct of knowledge exchange events and South-South cooperation on climate smart agriculture practices on topics such as climate information services, agriculture insurance, and stress-tolerant varieties to name a few. Developing regional policies and guidelines as well as engaging in relevant regional and international processes is another important work area of the ASEAN-CRN which has been shared at the symposium.

Photo by APEC Climate Center

Representing the ASEAN-CRN is Ms. Imelda Bacudo, Senior Advisor and Deputy Head of the Forest and Climate Change (FOR-CC) Project under the ASEAN-German Programme on Response to Climate Change in Agriculture and Forestry (GAP-CC)


The ASEAN-CRN is established to ensure that ASEAN member states are in a better position to adapt their agricultural sector to climate change and optimize its mitigation potential. The network promotes climate resiliency through exchange of information, expertise, and experiences on climate smart Agriculture practices amongst ASEAN member states. The ASEAN-CRN is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through GAP-CC and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in close cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC).

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