Searca hosts donors’ forum for social forestry

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), hosted the Donors Forum on Mobilizing Resources for Social Forestry in Asean held in Makati late last month.

The ASRF under the Asean-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) was designed to provide Asean memberstates leaders and focal points on social forestry with seed fund to respond to immediate needs or catalyze strategic action to address emerging issues, opportunities, or other situations that may not have been anticipated, but to which the AMS and AWG-SF’s response is critical.

Asean is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The program, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), aims to integrate social forestry into the climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies of Asean and its member-states.

Searca Director Gil Saguiguit Jr. underscored the importance of pushing for programs and activities that can immediately respond to emerging issues and challenges affecting the uplands, low-lying areas and coastal ecosystems, upon which many people rely for food, livelihood, and sustenance. Moreover, he noted ASRF projects in eight Asean countries have produced very promising results that if sustained and given much-needed support and resources can make significant contributions to the goal of integrating social forestry into climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies of Asean and its member-states.