ASEAN Guidelines and Action Plan on Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry: Workshop on Operationalizing the Action Plan

The ASEAN Guidelines for Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry were adopted in October 2018 by the agriculture and forestry ministers of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

These voluntary guidelines, grounded in the Committee on World Food Security's Principles for Responsible Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-FAI), are designed to account for the particular needs and objectives of countries in the region, and outline how different stakeholder groups can help promote and support more responsible investments in food, agriculture and forestry that are driven by sustainability considerations.

The July 2019 workshop in Bangkok brought together officials from ASEAN member states, as well as representatives from civil society organizations, farmer organizations, the private sector and various other stakeholders. Much of the workshop was devoted to implementation of the Guidelines and associated Action Plan. It was co-hosted by Grow Asia, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture of Germany.