UN, Los Baños Center share climate change information

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – A United Nations agency and a Southeast Asian center based here have agreed to share information that would enrich a regional database on climate change.

The UN Development Program-Alternative Learning Mechanism (UNDP-ALM) and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO-SEARCA) signed a memorandum of agreement in support of the activities of the SEARCA Knowledge Center on Climate Change Adaptation in agriculture and natural resources management in Southeast Asia (KC3).

Signatories to the MOA were UNIN-ALM project manager Julia Wolf and SEARCA director Gil Saguiguit Jr.

SEARCA has also signed separate agreements with Malaysia-based World Fish Center, represented by WFC regional director for Asia Maripaz Perez, and University of the Philippines Los Baños headed by Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco.

The four institutions signed the MOA at a recent program at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City during which a book, “Moving Forward: Southeast Asian Perspective on Climate and Biodiversity,” was launched.

Co-published by SEARCA and Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the 259-page book was launched jointly by World Agroforestry Center, Biodiversity International, Silliman University and SEARCA.

SEARCA established KC3 in 2008 to provide the information needs on climate change of the 11 member-countries of SEAMEO, a treaty organization founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science and culture.

KC3 helps nationals of Southeast Asian countries to understand the whys and whats of climate change and how it affects the agriculture and natural resources sectors.

It provides a venue for knowledge exchange and sharing to strengthen related research and development, capacity building, and policy advocacy efforts.

Beneficiaries of KC3 are policymakers, academics, businessmen, nongovernment organizations, fund donors, extension workers, farmers, students and the general public.