ASEAN nationals hone leadership in climate-smart land use

Eight ASEAN Member States are represented in the second virtual offering of the ASEAN Climate Leadership Programme (ACLP) being conducted by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the Deutsche Gessellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmBH-Climate-Smart Land Use in ASEAN (CSLU) Project until October 28, 2021.

Ms. Zahra Mutiara, Advisor for the GIZ CSLU Project, said the project aims to support ASEAN in strengthening its coordinating role to develop and implement policies that ensure the promotion of climate change mitigation and adaptation in the land use sector.

SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio said participants from the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam bring their diverse background and expertise into use as they embark on a leadership journey towards enhanced competencies, organizational skills, and understanding of regional policy processes, particularly those related to sustainable land use, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“They are being primed as competent and motivated leaders who will champion the initiation and facilitation of complex change processes in addressing climate change in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Dr. Gregorio said the 15-day leadership program promotes climate-smart land use for implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which is a core component of the Paris Agreement that is a commitment of 196 negotiating parties to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and to strengthen those commitments over time.

The program strengthens the participants’ leadership skills in facilitating change processes and collective cross-sectoral transformative action in climate-smart land use. It will enable participants to enhance their contribution to promoting the implementation of climate-friendly and resilient land use practices towards achieving NDCs within the context of ASEAN policies and priorities.

Dr. Mutiara said ACLP provides the participants with a review of climate-smart practices in the land use sector and introduce them to tools and framework that can help them become more effective leaders during policy formulation and implementation. She added that the program would serve as a great avenue for participants to expand their network at the regional level and, in the future, take proactive roles in facilitating cross-cutting coordination in their respective national contexts as well as in the context of Southeast Asia.

Mr. Adre de Wit, Dean of the Amsterdam Leadership Academy, Netherlands, and Ms. Rejani Kunjappan, Senior Technical Officer at the Center for People and Forest (RECOFTC)-The Center for People and Forests, Thailand, jointly serve as Leadership Facilitators together with the program’s technical expert, Dr. Rex Victor O. Cruz who is Professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Institute of Renewable Natural Resources.