New funds will be available to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) states for projects that address food security, poverty and climate change.

The Brunei Times reports on the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) Flexible Funding Mechanism that will support projects such as quick turnaround studies, exploratory reviews, meta-analysis/analytical studies and ‘think’ pieces, study tours, dialogues/roundtable discussions, position or background papers as input to policy debates and decision-making, and strategic training scholarships.

The funding will be coordinated by the Philippines-based Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). The Centre is collaborating with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to implement programs under the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) Phase II.

The partnership aims to integrate social forestry into climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies of ASEAN and its member states. It promotes the inclusion of communities, women and vulnerable groups in social forestry and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.

Other partners include the World Agroforestry Centre, the Center for International Forestry Research, Non-Timber Forest Product-Exchange Program South and Southeast Asia and the Center for People and Forests.

Read the full story: New ASEAN funding for climate change, food security projects