SEARCA holds workshop on climate proof agriculture

MANILA, Philippines - The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) recently hosted the first of two workshops on â€œIntegrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Plans and Investments” from Sept. 3 to 5 at its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna. 

The workshops are a collaborative effort of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Program on Response to Climate Change: Agriculture, Forestry and Related Sectors (GAP-CC)/Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) with SEARCA and the Bangkok-based Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC). 

Organizers said the SEARCA workshop builds on the increasing awareness among policymakers and planners in many developing countries that climate change impacts on agriculture pose significant threats to food security. 

 As such, there is now a need to “climate proof” policies, strategies, development plans, and projects to enhance agricultural production and ensure long-term food security at the national, sectoral, local, and project levels. 

By doing so, the SEARCA workshop hopes to promote a higher degree of adaptation to climate change and thus ensure food security in the long run. 

Participants to  the recent workshop were 15 representatives from the ASEAN Sectoral Working Groups (ASWG) in fisheries and in livestock. The second workshop to be held at RECOFTC will have participants from the Crops and Forestry sectoral working groups. 

This collaborative effort aims to build capacities of Sectoral Working Groups of the ASEAN Multi-Sectoral Framework on Climate Change: Agriculture and Forestry towards Food Security (AFCC) on Climate Proofing in the ASEAN context. 

To ensure long-term food security and to improve livelihood of farmers in the ASEAN region, the ASEAN forged a partnership with GAP-CC to implement the AFCC. 

GAP-CC not only supports ASEAN in developing and implementing regionally coordinated policies and strategies that address climate change in the agriculture and forestry sectors, but also assists ASEAN in establishing a climate proofing methodology at the regional level.  

From the regional level, it is hoped that the climate proofing methodology will trickle down and be piloted in development plans and projects in the agriculture and forestry sectors to maintain food security and support livelihood of farmers. 

Specifically, the workshop aims to promote an understanding of climate change impacts and the need to mainstream climate adaptation into policies, action plans and projects of the ASWG. 

It also aims to facilitate identification and piloting of applications of climate proofing to selected ASEAN initiatives within the AFCC Sectoral Working Group Strategic Plans of Action. 

Moreover, the workshop proposes to qualify representatives of ASWG as advocates for further application of the climate proofing methodology and mainstreaming of climate adaption in strategies and activities at ASEAN and member state level.  

Participants will work out systematic steps toward climate change adaptation and mainstreaming these initiatives into sectoral plans, policies, and strategies. 

Workshop materials to be used are based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Policy Guidance entitled “Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Cooperation.”  

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)-funded publication was developed by GIZ in coordination with OECD, together with a host of reviewers from development agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and research institutions from around the world. 

The workshop at SEARCA was coordinated by Dr. Daylinda B. Cabanilla, a professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Forestry and Natural Resources (UPLB-CFNR) Department of Social Forestry and Forest Governance. 

Assisting her were Shyam Paudel of RECOFTC and Rosario Bantayan of SEARCA.  

The other resource persons included Dr. Juan M. Pulhin, dean and professor, UPLB-CFNR, and Dr. Asa Jose U. Sajise, associate professor, Department of Economics, UPLB-College of Economics and Management.