ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change

Project completed

ASEAN member states have adopted a framework strategy to address climate change and food security for the Southeast Asian Region up to 2020. SDC’s intervention - conducted in close collaboration with GIZ - supports the implementation of the strategy. Through focusing on the participation of local people and communities to conserve, manage and benefit from forest goods and services, an important contribution can be made to address poverty alleviation and climate change at local, national and regional levels.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
EastAsiaregional
Climate change and environment
Forestry policy
Environmental policy
Biosphere protection
01.01.2014 - 31.07.2017
CHF  5’600’000
Background

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change and environmental degradation due to high population growth, growth in consumption and economic activities in coastal and mountain areas. More than 100 million poor people in the region heavily rely on the forests that cover about 50% of the total land area. Deforestation in ASEAN countries significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, but forests also help to mitigate global warming and contribute to reduce vulnerability of the rural poor.

Objectives

Contribute to food security through sustainable, efficient and effective use of land, forest, water and aquatic resources by minimizing the risks and impacts of, and the contributions to climate change. The project addresses two specific objectives:

  1. Social forestry approaches integrated into the climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies of ASEAN and its member states;
  2. Socio-economic benefits derived from the inclusion of communities, women and vulnerable groups in forestry and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
Target groups

Forestry and climate change officials and decision makers in ASEAN member countries. Also targeted are ASEAN citizens, particularly poor people living in and around forests in mountainous and coastal zones.

Medium-term outcomes

Three main objectives are formulated for the phase:

  1. A coordinated social forestry framework integrated into ASEAN and in climate change strategies of member states;
  2. Effective knowledge sharing and networking on the role of social forestry in climate change
  3. Assessing and applying adaptation strategies and best practices from selected communities and upscale them throughout the region.
Results

Results from previous phases:  

SDC has been supporting social forestry concepts for more than three decades in East and Southeast Asia by fostering capacity building and research. Phase I of the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) has established a functional network to bring these results to the policy level. The role of the people depending on forests in addressing climate change has meanwhile been widely recognized. Up-scaling the social forestry/climate change nexus to a higher policy level is an important next step now to secure sustainable development in ASEAN States.


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Development cooperation
Project partners Contract partner
Foreign academic and research organisation
International or foreign NGO
Other International Organization
Private sector
Swiss Non-profit Organisation
  • Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN
  • Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
  • HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation
  • Foreign private sector South/East
  • ASEAN Social Forestry Network Secretariat and regional partner organisations: the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR); the Centre for People and Forests (RECOFTC); the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF); the Non-Timber Forest Product Extension Programme (NTFP-EP) and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).


Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF    5’600’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF    5’436’974
Project phases Phase 3 01.03.2017 - 31.08.2021   (Completed)

Phase 2 01.01.2014 - 31.07.2017   (Completed)

Phase 1 01.04.2010 - 30.06.2014   (Completed)