Forum for the Future’s latest report from the Protein Challenge Southeast Asia programme focuses on agroecology in the region. What is agroecology? Why is it important for a healthy, resilient food system? Where and how do finance actors come into the picture?
Agroecology is a bottom-up, context-specific approach to food production. Foundational elements of this approach include delivering nature-positive outcomes and enhancing agricultural biodiversity.
This approach is particularly important for a healthy, resilient food system in Southeast Asia because of…
🌏 …the region’s vulnerability to climate impacts and fast-growing population which call for a holistic approach to the region’s challenges in order to restore soil health, regenerate landscapes, enable diversification of food and energy sources, and enable producers and communities to thrive.
🌏 …production intensification and related natural resource depletion can result in one fifth of the population remaining food-insecure, thus putting the sustainability and effectiveness of Southeast Asia’s food and protein systems in question.
🌏 …the adoption of industrialised approaches to help ensure food security and maintain yield growth has resulted in a shift away from traditional agroecology, contributing to overfishing, deforestation and less healthy diets.
🌏 …the food system in Southeast Asia is made up of mostly smallholder farms, necessitating an approach that places the farmers at the core by recognising human and social values such as solidarity, co-creation and knowledge-sharing as essential ingredients of policy.
Read more in Forum for the Future’s latest report from Forum’s Protein Challenge Southeast Asia programme, co-produced with GROW Impact Accelerator.
