Bernama 18 Dec 08;
JAKARTA, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- Asean is making a move towards elaborating a regional strategy on agriculture, forestry and fisheries in order to address the global issue of climate change.
This follows the global commitment and response to climate change agreed at the recent UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.
The fourth ASEC Brown Bag Series by the Asean Secretariat today titled "Climate Change and Food Security: Challenges for Asean", highlighted the need for strategic planning and policy coordination in Asean to address the complex and interrelated issues of food security and climate change.
Guest speakers were Dr Wulf Killmann, chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations' (FAO) Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate Change and director of the Forest Products & Industries Division of FAO's Forestry Department, and Dr Irsal Las, head of the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development.
Dr Killmann pointed to the interrelation of climate change, food security and forestry and underscored that inter-sectoral coordination was required to meet changing and more difficult environmental conditions.
"Societies will have to weigh trade-offs between land-uses," he said, concluding that climate change could only be dealt with in an integrated manner through integrated land-use policies and implementation at local, national, regional and international levels.
Dr Las called for collaborative research and regional strategy development in Asean, including the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors to address the impact of climate change effectively.
"The impact of climate change to agriculture has broadened and therefore requires a holistic strategy to this situation. Climate change is a trans-boundary issue, so policy coherence, knowledge-oriented policy-making as well as mutual learning and common understanding among Asean member states are crucial to this end," he said.
Meanwhile, the principal director of the Bureau for Economic Integration and Finance at the Asean Secretariat, S. Pushpanathan said Asean through its ministers for agriculture and forestry had adopted a strategic plan of action on Asean food security where linkages with climate change were emphasised.
"Asean is also committed to pursuing a regional plan to elaborate measures in dealing with mitigation and adaptation to climate change on agriculture, fisheries and forestry that will lay the foundation for tackling important and interrelated issues of climate change, including food security," he said.
More ASEC Brown Bag Series on contemporary topics of interest to Asean will be organised in the coming months as the Asean Secretariat intensifies its public outreach efforts to promote the Asean Community and the work of Asean.
-- BERNAMA
