Conference Synthesis on Southeast Asia Food System Seminar

Conference synthesis for international virtual conference on sustainable food systems in Southeast Asia under and beyond COVID-19

The international virtual conference on Sustainable Food Systems in Southeast Asia Under and Beyond COVID-19: Policy Evidence and Call for Action took place on May 19-20, 2022. The two-day online event was organized by the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Kasetsart University; Mekong Institute; the MSU Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research, Capacity, and Influence (PRCI); Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS-Asia); International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Agricultural Economics Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage (AEST).  Participants included selected regional representatives from academic institutions, research institutions, national and international outreach institutions, non-governmental organizations, civil society and policymakers from Southeast Asia.

The conference featured four sessions with multiple seminars centered around pertinent topics, including boosting sustainable production; building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress; food system profile and policy; and promoting safe, nutritious and sustainable consumption. PRCI Director Dave Tschirley; Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE) Professor Duncan Boughton and Suresh Babu, PRCI Asia Lead and Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI were on the international organizing committee for the conference.

Several PRCI affiliated researchers presented at the conference. Suresh Babu gave welcoming remarks and acted as the forum moderator for the “Sustainable Food System: Policy Discussion and Call for Action” forum. Ben Belton, AFRE Associate Professor, gave a presentation on “Specialization, scale, and spillovers in Southeast Asia’s transforming food systems”. Finally, Duncan Boughton led the wrap up session for the conference.   

As a result of the event, a conference synthesis brief has been created to summarize the outcomes of the food system seminar. Pathways needed to translate evidence into action were presented for a broad range of stakeholders, and challenges for the future of sustainable food systems in Southeast Asia were discussed in the conference synthesis. Four important themes emerged from the conference including boosting sustainable production; building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stresses; promoting safe, nutritious, and sustainable consumption and supporting continued transformation of food systems to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Read the Conference Synthesis here.

See more resources and outcomes of the conference here.

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