ASEAN Way Forward for SDGs and COP21 through Social and Sustainability Sciences

Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC) Thailand collaborated closely with Chulalongkorn University to propose relevant ideas and action recommendations for The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2019 during its tenure as ASEAN Chair. 

The focus of this Phase two project is on Higher Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Agri-food Systems (HESAFS) in ASEAN contexts with an emphasis on agroecology education particularly as a means to help achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as COP21 Paris climate agreement goals after 2015.

This multi-disciplinary project has been designed as a contribution to implementing the ASEAN Work Plan on Education (AWPE), 2016-2020.  Policy Briefs have been produced with three principal objectives namely to:

• 1) Document strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for agroecology,
• 2) Identify key themes and recommendations for academic reform and innovations, and
• 3) Facilitate the mainstreaming of agro-ecological/organic theory, learning content and operational approaches.

National and International Collaborators:

• Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC) Thailand,
• Andalas University (Indonesia),
• Cenral Bicol State University of Agriculture (Philippines),
• Institute for Environment and Development (Malaysia),
• Kasetsart University,
• Maejo University,
• National Institute of Development Administration,
• Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi,
• National University of Laos,
• Universiti Putra Malaysia,
• Vietnam University of Agriculture,
• Yogyakarta Agricultural Extension College,
• SEAMEO,
• UNESCO,
• FAO,
• SEARCA,
• The Agroecology Learning Alliance in Southeast Asia.

For more information, please visit:

• Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development 2019 
• Public seminar on “Exploring Synergies with FAO’s new Scaling-up Agroecology Initiative and Thailand’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) for Agri-food System Sustainability to Achieve SDGs in ASEAN”