Vietnam is positioning itself as a food innovation hub for Asia, and is building its reputation as a responsible, transparent, and sustainable food provider in the process. As part of this transformation from agri-food systems based on crop monocultures and separate intensive livestock rearing, sustained by environmentally disruptive chemicals, it is putting agroecology at the heart of its efforts. Agroecology embraces a farming approach that makes use of ecological processes rather than their substitution by artificial alternatives, combines local and scientific knowledge, and focuses on the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment.

This commitment was highlighted during a side event, ‘Harnessing the potential of agroecology in Southeast Asia to transform food systems to become sustainable’, at the 4th Global Conference of the One Planet Network‘s Sustainable Food System Programme (SFS Programme) in Hanoi on 25th April 2023.

The session featured presentations from government officials from Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as from senior agroecology experts from around the world. The speakers delivered updates on national policies, and shared how the 13 actionable agroecological principles have been integrated by a wide range of actors, at various scales, to build up sustainable food systems through agroecology across the Southeast Asian region. These  principles were synthesised in 2019 by the High Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).