BOGOR, Indonesia — The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has joined the partners of the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) in Phase II initiatives to promote policy and practices of social forestry for sustainable forest management and participation in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The ASFN is a government-driven social forestry network that links government forestry policy-makers directly with members of the civil society, research organizations, academe, the private sectors, and experts of related fields sharing the common vision of growth of social forestry in all ASEAN Member Countries.  ASFN aims to promote policy and practices of social forestry for sustainable forest management and participation in climate change adaptation and mitigation.  It is funded and continuously supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) through the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) programme, which is facilitated by the ASFN Secretariat and Implementation Partners.

On 2-5 December 2013, the ASFN Secretariat organized the ASFCC Operational Planning Workshop for Phase II at the Aston Hotel, Bogor, Indonesia, to provide the venue to discuss the accomplishments of the implementing partners in Phase I, as well as discuss how the ASFCC research and knowledge generation activities in Phase II will contribute to the ASEAN Multisectoral Framework for Climate Change and Food Security (AFCC) and ASEAN Strategic Plan of Actions for 2015 and beyond, and identify mechanisms for substantive exchange and peer review, and operational coordination in common research sites. Phase I launched the AFSCC in 2011 as a support program embedded in and working through the structure of the ASEAN Secretariat to define a conceptual frame and strategy that supports a network (i.e., ASFN), allowing access and exchange to a variety of Social Forestry concepts and approaches, and the possibility to link them with emerging issues on climate change in the AMS.  Phase II will continue the program for another three years, along the three defined outcomes: Policy Development, Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building, and Learning Interventions.

The workshop was attended by the focal persons of the implementing partners, namely: the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Non-Timber Forest Product-Exchange Programme (NTFP-EP) South and Southeast Asia, the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), including the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) as new Implementation partner, and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) as new supporting partner.  Also attending were Ms. Pouchamarn Wonsanga, Senior Officer, of the Agriculture Industries and Natural Resources Division (AINRD), ASEAN Economic Department (AEC) of the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC); Mr. Sugeng Marsudiarto, representative of the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia (MOFRI) as Host of the ASFN Secretariat;  Dr. Juergen Blaser, SDC Global Forest Advisor and Professor at Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Science; and Dr. Doris Capistrano, ASFCC Advisor and SEARCA Senior Fellow.

As a new supporting partner, SEARCA presented the ASFN Strategic Response Fund (ASRF), a flexible funding mechanism to enable ASEAN member states (AMS) focal points to quickly respond to emerging issues and challenges and articulate policy recommendations and directions on the network's common concern.  The ASRF will be implemented on a pilot basis, initially for 18 months, to fund projects relevant to ASFCC and ASFN objectives and priority themes, and impactful by addressing gaps or issues of strategic importance in the interrelatedness of issues of food security, poverty, and climate change.  These projects may be classified as (1) quick "turn-around" studies, (2) exploratory reviews, (3) meta-analysis/analytical studies and think pieces, (4) study tours, (5) dialogues/roundtable discussions, (6) position or background papers as inputs to policy debates and decision-making, and (7) very strategic training scholarships.

ASFN focal agencies in ASEAN member states may apply for the grant. The mechanics of the grant (criteria for selection, fund disbursement and other institutional arrangements) are yet to be fine-tuned by a Program Steering Committee.

Dr. Bessie M. Burgos, Acting Program Head of SEARCA-RDD discussing the ARD conference with Mr. Tran Dong Phuong, Director, Finance, Industry and Infrastructure Directorate of the ASEAN Economic Community DepartmentDr. Bessie M. Burgos, Acting Program Head of SEARCA-RDD discussing the ARD conference with Mr. Tran Dong Phuong, Director, Finance, Industry and Infrastructure Directorate of the ASEAN Economic Community Department

At the end of the four-day event, the agreements made during the planning workshop were presented to Mr. Tran Dong Phoung, Director, Finance, Industry and Infrastructure Directorate of AEC Department at the ASEAN Secretariat, and Dr. Ida Bagus Putera Parthama, Acting Director-General of the Forestry Research and Development Agency (FORDA) as ASOF Leader Indonesia and Mr. Heryudono, Director of Forest and Land Rehabilitation, representative of the Directorate-General of the Watershed Management and Social Forestry Development (WMSFD), both of MOFRI Main Office in Jakarta.