This handbook aims to help Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) parliamentarians play their role in operationalising the ASEAN Guidelines for Promoting Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry (ASEAN RAI). It is based on Responsible investments in agriculture and food systems: A practical handbook for parliamentarians and parliamentary advisors published by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in 2020. It adapts that earlier handbook to the ASEAN context and provides ASEAN parliamentarians with practical guidance on how to contribute to an enabling environment for responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in their countries, based on the ASEAN-RAI Guidelines.

This Practical Handbook is directed to Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Advisors, who are considered “change agents”. It provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the role that Parliamentarians can play in the creation of reliable, coherent, and transparent “enabling environments” in the range of areas related to investment in agriculture and food systems. The Handbook does so, not through a catalog of prescriptions, but through guidance notes, examples of good practices, and very practical indications. It does not aim to provide a blueprint to be implemented by each Parliament but rather it sets out key stages of processes and mechanisms for MPs and advisors to consider while promoting responsible investment in agriculture and food systems.Part 1 of the Handbook presents the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems and explains:why there is an urgent need to enhance responsible investment in agriculture and food systems: high levels of malnutrition and poverty (exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic), population growth and urbanization, increasing demand for more resource-intensive diets, climate change, and its severe impacts; what is responsible investment in agriculture and food systems: “Responsible investment in agriculture and food systems contributes to sustainable development by generating positive socio-economic and environmental impacts, enhancing food security and nutrition. It requires progressively respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights”; and how can it contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and national development plans - scaling up support to small scale farmers, engaging and empowering youth, closing the gender gap, and improving access to infrastructure, public services, and agricultural finance, and, in general, investing in the sustainable production of safe and nutritious food while contributing to improving inclusion in the food system, prioritizing vulnerable populations and adopting a human rights-based approach to food security, in line with the SDGs spirit of addressing inequalities and ensuring that no one is left behind. In Part 2, through specific Guidance Notes, Parliamentarians and advisors are guided through concrete actions they can implement in their countries to improve and increase investments, actions such as: executing a national policy, legislative, and institutional frameworks assessment; ensuring consistency in the legal and policy framework; advocating to reform existing laws and/or adopt new laws; ensuring adequate financing for the implementation of laws related to responsible investments in agriculture and food systems and ensuring effective parliamentary oversight are detailed throughout.In addition to their essential role for the enactment of legislation and adoption of budgets, and of ensuring accountability of governments for the effective implementation of commitments, parliamentarians, and parliamentary advisors are custodians of their country’s plans for sustainable development and have a strategic responsibility to raise awareness of citizens on issues of paramount importance. To support parliamentarians and advisors in creating effective partnerships with other stakeholders, such as other parliamentarians, the private sector, the civil society, and academia, Part 3 provides tailored key messages that can be used ad hoc in meetings, conferences, and in other kinds of communications such as reports, press releases, and social media. It includes useful explanations of how data and country-level statistics can support advocacy and communication activities.

Given the increasing presence of non-Western nations in global affairs, Hiro Katsumata and Hiroki Kusano explore their responses to the backlash taking place in the West against the global spread of liberalism – against the global spread of free trade, multilateral institutions, and liberal-democratic politics. Katsumata and Kusano concentrate on the cases of Egypt, Brazil, Japan, ASEAN members, Russia, and China. Mounted by these non-Western nations are three kinds of responses: illiberal bandwagoning, counter-backlash, and thirdway charting. Each of these responses inevitably has significant consequences for the fate of the existing liberal international order established and sustained by the Western countries in the post-war era, either accelerating the collapse of this order by causing additional damage to it, or putting the brakes on its collapse by giving support to it. An invaluable resource for scholars in International Relations and Comparative Politics.

The recognition of customary tenure systems and responsible land-based investments that safeguard legitimate tenure rights and right holders are the interconnected main themes for mainstreaming the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam. This study aims at providing an assessment of the legal frameworks in the four countries to analyse whether safeguards for legitimate tenure rights and tenure right holders can be identified in legal provisions applicable to decisions related to land-based investments in agriculture. Theassessment also aims at informing and supporting ongoing processes of policy and legal reform in the four countries, as well as the work of organizations that provide support to these processes.

The Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030) aims to strengthen regional cooperation and integration in critical areas. GMS-2030 builds upon recognized strengths with a project-led approach that will benefit the community, support connectivity, and improve competitiveness. It also emphasizes the challenges of the coronavirus disease and aims to ensure that government strategies are conducive to a robust recovery in the medium term and beyond. Based on decades of success and program experience, GMS-2030 provides continuity, but will be updated, as necessary, to reflect evolving global or regional forces that may impinge on GMS development prospects.

This paper summarizes the current state of concepts and approaches for addressing deforestation in the trade, marketing, and production of agricultural commodities that have a disproportionate impact on forests at international, national, and landscape level. To date, predominant attention has been directed towards the role of the private sector and "consumer countries" that shape market regulation. This publication aims to complement the international discourse by generating a greater focus on the role of "producer country" governments at the national and local level to support efforts to decouple agricultural production from deforestation.

There are numerous risks to the sustainability and stability of Indonesia’s farming system, food production system, supply chains, and ecosystems. The evaluation aims to answer two essential questions: whether FAO is doing what is needed and whether it is making a difference. This evaluation recommends that FAO support the green and blue (land and sea) preparedness and adaptation plans, as well as early warning systems. The evaluation further recommends that FAO ramp up its support for a national decision support system that adopts a food systems approach to provide policymakers with the best analytical evidence and data available to guide new public policies and regulations. Many of the conclusions and recommendations call for policy and regulatory reform. The evaluation recommends that FAO work with Indonesia to establish innovative data management systems, new analysis methods, and analytical tools on agriculture including fisheries and forestry.