What happens to regional frameworks and strategies for climate-smart land use post-endorsement? How can governments and partners advance the adoption of these high-level documents?

On 16 November 2021, the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) led a discussion session to explore these and related questions using the ASEAN Guidelines for Agroforestry Development as the backdrop.

As part of the ASEAN Conference on Policy and Governance for Climate-Smart Land Use, the session featured a moderated panel discussion with a keynote address. The panel shared practical examples and experience of leveraging opportunities offered by multi-level governance.

Opening the session, Dian Sukmajaya, senior officer of the Food, Agriculture and Forestry Division of the ASEAN Secretariat, gave the keynote address on ways to bring regional discussions on agroforestry into national debates through the Guidelines. He articulated the role of ASEAN and relevant partners in stimulating ASEAN Member States to design and implement agroforestry interventions.

‘Regional policy frameworks should serve as a bridge between global and national policies,’ said Sukmajaya.

He emphasized the importance of developing practical tools to accelerate the implementation of regional policies.

Accordingly, boosting national and local ownership of activities and strengthening strategic partnerships is necessary to improve and support multi-level governance.

In response to Sukmajaya’s keynote and associated questions, three panelists shared their perspectives on the utility, financing, monitoring and evaluation of the Guidelines: Rosalie Imperial of the Forest Management Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines; Simone Vongkhamho of the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute in Lao PDR; and Sonia Akter of the National University of Singapore. Melinda Martinus of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies’ Yusof Ishak Institute moderated the session.

Drawing on their country insights, Imperial and Vongkhamho discussed the opportunities and challenges of agroforestry development in the Philippines and Lao PDR, respectively. Imperial highlighted advances of the Philippines in integrating agroforestry into national programming and allocation of funding. Vongkhamho discussed the Lao Government’s commitments to agroforestry in policies such as the Forest Strategy 2035 and Green Growth Strategy and shared development of a national agroforestry roadmap.

Despite the different pathways of the Philippines and Lao PDR, the two panelists mentioned common barriers to scaling up agroforestry. These pertained to land-tenure rights, markets and value-chains’ development, and monitoring and evaluation. With support from ASEAN, countries that have made greater progress in one or more areas can share their experience to enable national adoption of the Guidelines.

Sharing expertise from the public policy arena, Akter suggested establishing a regional technical committee to help oversee research and development of agroforestry, which ASEAN and other partners could explore.

‘In rolling out the Guidelines,’ said Akter, ‘a regional technical committee can not only help bridge technical gaps and encourage cross-sectoral capacity building but also contribute to monitoring and evaluation at national levels.’

Attention to capacity building is critical in Southeast Asia, where knowledge of agroforestry is highly scattered. 

The session’s key takeaways were significant when considering that transformational landscape changes do not happen through policy endorsements alone. Rather, it is through the collective commitments and actions of landscape users and beneficiaries across sectors and at multiple levels that policy objectives for climate-smart land use can become a reality.