Mr. Rapibhat Chandarasrivongs, Director-General, Department of Agriculture (DOA), Thailand, as ASEAN-Climate Resilience Network (CRN) Chair and Mr. Joell H. Lales, Director, Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), the Philippines, co-chaired the 8th ASEAN CRN Annual Meeting held virtually on 4 April 2023. This year the Philippines is the chair of the ASEAN Technical Working Group on Agricultural Research and Development (ATWGARD). The output of the meeting will be reported in the 17th ATWGARD Meeting on 5 April 2023.
The ASEAN-CRN focal points discussed regional priority climate change and agriculture issues contributing to the ATWGARD Strategic Plan of Action (SPA). Then, they jointly looked at the Network’s past activities and achievements since its last year’s annual meeting. The meeting also reviewed the work plan for 2022-2023. Among the crucial points discussed was the endorsement of the ToR, which identifies the role and institutionalisation of the ASEAN-CRN Coordination Unit (Secretariat) for long-term sustainability.
Mr Rapibhat took the opportunity to present an initiative from Thailand. He proposed it as a regional project entitled “Thailand Initiative ASEAN Joint Work on GHG Emission Reduction Program on Crops (AGERcrops)”. The project will look into baselining for carbon credits in major economic crops as Thailand is keen to share its experience from the implemented Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction (T-VER) programme. Thailand would therefore like to upscale this kind of initiative in the ASEAN region while, at the same time, learning from all Member States how they tackle the climate challenges.
The documentation of the 8th ASEAN-CRN Annual Meeting can be accessed in the Event Documentation page: https://bit.ly/3zv0dCs.