PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (University Consortium) champions collaborative research and development on food and nutrition security and climate change adaptation and mitigation for an inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (ISARD) in the region.
The University Consortium adopted the Umbrella Program on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation for Southeast Asia (CChAM) in its special meeting on 14 August 2015 at the School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
The Umbrella Program on CChAM is envisioned as a platform for collaborative research, knowledge management, and capacity development on climate change adaptation and resiliency in Southeast Asia. It was crafted using a combination of methods: review of existing climate change program frameworks; survey conducted among the University Consortium and other partner universities and development institutions; consultation with SEARCA Senior Fellows; and consultation-workshop organized by SEARCA jointly with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam, supported by the Food Security Center of the University of Hohenheim, and participated in by 59 participants from the academe, government agencies, international research centers, and development and donor organizations/programs.
The Umbrella Program on CChAM is anchored on the ASEAN Multi-sectoral Framework on Climate Change (AFCC) and is reflective of areas where institutions can work together, pool resources, and address gaps or move in directions where their joint efforts in R&D provide a strategic advantage for climate resiliency in SEA. Overall, the Umbrella Program on CChAM comprises four thematic areas, 21 sub-themes, and 70 projects and activities.
The University Consortium, in the same meeting, reviewed the progress of seven collaborative projects under the Umbrella Program on Food and Nutrition Security that it adopted since August 2014. These projects are implemented by two or more members of the University Consortium and are focused on food reserves, indigenous crops, post-harvest system improvement, implications of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on regional food and nutrition security (FNS), enhancing human resources for regional FNS, and knowledge center on FNS.
