Event
20.11.2012 - 21.11.2012
International Conference on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Food and Environmental Security
About 150 researchers, academicians, policymakers, and development workers representing 21 countries across the globe attended the International Conference on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Food and Environmental Security held on 21-22 November 2012 at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Los Baños, Philippines.
The scientific meeting was jointly organized by SEARCA and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) through its Interdisciplinary Program on Climate Change (IdPCC), with the Asia-Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN), supported by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Japan along with other partners, as major sponsor.
Serving as a platform for exchange on the latest knowledge on climate change impacts and adaptation linked to food security and environmental sustainability, the conference had four plenary presentations and 41 papers presented in four parallel sessions on the following themes: Status, Prospects, and Practices on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture, Climate Change Impacts and Vulnerability, Climate Change Adaptation and Agriculture, Institutional and Economic Aspects of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, Systems and Tools for Analyzing Climate Change Impacts and Vulnerability, and Regional and South-South Collaboration in Research and Development. The hope is for these new knowledge and experiences in climate change scienceand adaptation strategies, disaster risk reduction, climate risk management, climate change adaptation planning and management, and vulnerability and impacts assessment tools to be upscaled to benefit the majority of Southeast Asia and other regions that are bearing the brunt of adverse climate change effects on food and environmental security.
In his welcome remarks, Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., SEARCA Director, urged institutions to pursue collaborative efforts to generate results which are concerted rather than dispersed and fragmented. He said that “we can only do so much with our limited resources; hence we must strategically invest in initiatives that can make the most impact.”
The conference also served as a venue for promoting partnerships and linkages among different sectors for collaborative capacity development and research and development activities on climate change adaptation. It involved holistic discussion on institutional, policy, governance, culture, and economic aspects of climate change science.
“Dealing with climate change effects especially on food security will require a multi-sectoral, multi-lateral, multi-disciplinary, integrated approach,”said Dr. Paul S. Teng, Senior Fellow (Food Security) at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies of the Rajaratnam School of International Studies and of SEARCA, in his keynote speech. Meanwhile, Dr. William D. Dar, Director General of the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), asserted that the biggest challenge facing human civilizations today is caused by a “rising perfect storm” including climate change, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, food crisis, energy crisis and population explosion.
Aside from Dr. Teng and Dr. Dar, plenary presenters included Dr. Seishi Ninomiya, Professor at the Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services of the University of the Tokyo; Dr. Reinhold G. Muschler, Latin American Chair for Agroecology and Agrobiodiversity of the Center for Agricultural Research and Higher Education (ARHE); and Dr. Juan M. Pulhin, Dean and Professor at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR), UPLB.
A panel on Networking for Research and Development (R&D) and Capacity Building on Climate Change and Food and Environmental Security highlighted the availability of networks in various regions that will support R&D and capacity-building activities; and availability of opportunities to join capacity-building and training courses in some networks thru counterpart-funding. Some recommendations include strengthening of collaborations across agencies (public and private; local, national and global scales) in R&D and/or education sectors and mainstreaming of research findings in the local and national governance systems to ensure sustainability of the networks. Panelists included Ms. Hiroko Kodaka, Associate Program Manager, Asia-Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN); Dr. Maria Victoria Espaldon, Chair, UPLB IdPCC and UPLB Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension; Dr. Ninomiya; Dr. Herminia A. Francisco, Director of the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA); and Dr. Berthold Seibert, Project Director, ASEAN Biodiversity Centre-GIZ Biodiversity and Climate Change Project (ACB-GIZ BCCP).
In her closing remarks, Dr. Puja Sawhney, Regional Coordinator of APAN, committed APAN’s continued support of networking and capacity development activities on climate change adaptation in the Asia-Pacific region, and said it will strengthen the partnerships nurtured through SEARCA in this conference.
Aside from APAN, the conference enjoyed the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Food Security Center (FSC) of the University of Hohenheim in Germany, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), EEPSEA, and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)-Philippines through the Climate Change Commission (CCC) under the Office of the President of the Philippines. APAN is a partnership among various institutions including the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment in Japan, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and Asian Development Bank (ADB), among others.