SINGAPORE, Nov. 30, 2023 – With the expected kickoff of COP28 later today in Dubai, results from the just-concluded ASEAN Food & Agriculture ‘Road to COP28’ Series were released. This workshop series organized by Canada-ASEAN Business Council, EU-ASEAN Business Council, US-ASEAN Business Council and CropLife Asia was comprised of dialogues between regional and national food value chain stakeholders in Thailand and Vietnam to seek inputs on climate change mitigation and adaptation for food and agriculture in Southeast Asia. This is the second consecutive year these organizations have led this series of climate action talks.
During the respective workshops, a host of recommendations were raised by the stakeholders including:
- Education and capacity building for farmers on climate adaptation measures and climate-smart agriculture including the use of various innovation and technology;
- Strengthening existing farmer groups and cooperatives so that they are able to better utilize the various technological advances;
- Growing the digital infrastructure to improve farmers’ access to information and optimising their production;
- Having the right balance with regulations that promote the responsible use of technology to produce safe and quality crops;
- Advancing partnerships and collaboration among relevant stakeholders to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and preventing climate challenges from worsening; and
- Promoting better waste management in fields to maintain soil quality.
These and other recommendations raised were provided to the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network (ASEAN – CRN) as part of the organization’s ASEAN Negotiating Group for Agriculture preparation processes leading up to COP28.
According to the 2023 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report issued earlier this year by the United Nations, 691-783 million people in the world faced hunger in 2022, with Asia home to more than half (55%) of that figure. Meanwhile, climate change is inhibiting the ability for regional smallholder farmers to produce the safe and nutritious crops needed to drive food security. In May, parts of Southeast Asia recorded temperatures that were deemed as “Once-in-200-years”. Extreme heat can have devastating effects on crops, livestock, and agricultural productivity as it can lead to reduced water availability, accelerated evaporation, and increased risk of drought, which can severely affect crop yields and livestock health. A World Bank report predicted that by 2050, climate change could reduce global crop yields by as much as 5-30%[i].
With COP28 scheduled to initially convene later today in Dubai and bring together government delegates to accelerate global efforts with the climate crisis, the need for discourse and discussion around equipping farmers with the right knowledge and practices to adapt to climate-related challenges to support food production is now more crucial than ever.
