- More than 2,000 farmers, chefs and policymakers met last November in the Philippines to explore food systems rooted in biodiversity conservation, Indigenous knowledge and local food security.
- Speakers highlighted agroecology and nature-based solutions as practical ways to strengthen food security while restoring ecosystems and supporting livelihoods.
- Climate risks from typhoons to floods underscored why diversified farming and healthy soils matter for resilience across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
- The gathering signaled a pushback against industrial agriculture, including GMOs, and a move toward regional cooperation on “good, clean and fair” food.
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — For five days last November, the city of Bacolod in the central Philippine province of Negros Occidental became a crossroads of food cultures from across Asia and the Pacific. The aroma of grilled seafood, fermented sauces, roasted coffee and freshly ground spices filled the air as farmers, chefs, food artisans, scientists, fisherfolk, Indigenous leaders, researchers and policymakers gathered to talk about seeds, soil, culture and survival.
The event marked the first Asia-Pacific convergence of the global Slow Food movement, bringing together more than 2,000 delegates from 20 countries in Bacolod. The participants were drawn by shared concerns over biodiversity loss, climate change, and the future of food systems across the region.
Organized by the international NGO Slow Food, which advocates for good, clean and fair food for all, in collaboration with Philippines partners, the gathering sought to strengthen regional networks around agroecology, a sustainable farming approach that integrates ecology, Indigenous knowledge, and social action, while showcasing food cultures rooted in local ecosystems.
“This is a space where communities, ingredients, and ideas come together to shape the future of food,” Edward Mukiibi, president of Slow Food, told Mongabay, describing it as both a cultural platform and a venue for confronting urgent environmental challenges.
Hub for ‘good, clean and fair’ food
A key outcome of the gathering was Slow Food’s designation of Bacolod as its Center for Sustainable Gastronomy in the region, and Negros Occidental as the Organic Capital of the Philippines. Slow Food’s leaders emphasized that these were not ceremonial titles, but strategic commitments aligned with the NGO’s decentralized model.
Delegates welcomed the move’s intention to anchor regional collaboration in food systems that offer alternatives to industrial agriculture. Organizers said the hub would support regular exchanges among farmers, cooks, Indigenous communities, researchers and policymakers, while helping scale up locally grounded solutions across the region.
Speaking with Mongabay, Mukiibi said the Asia-Pacific region is increasingly shaping global conversations about food and sustainability. “It is about shaping food systems that can guarantee good, clean and fair food for the next generations.”
Learning through food, culture and biodiversity
Education and participation were central to the Nov. 19-23 event, dubbed Terra Madre Asia & Pacific. The education program featured 18 hands-on workshops led by farmers, cooks and Indigenous knowledge keepers, focusing on crops such as rice, soy, taro and spices. Organizers said more than 15 local schools brought students to the event, introducing children and youth to food traditions grounded in biodiversity.
In the Foodways Area, families learned to grind spices, prepare bamboo-cooked dishes, make miso, cook taro, and create Indigenous rice snacks. Tasting workshops sold out, while public talks drew strong engagement on food and health, seed preservation, traditional crops, sustainable development, and food policy. Dedicated spaces such as the Slow Food Coffee Coalition, Slow Drinks, and Terra Madre Kitchen facilitated exchange among producers, cooks and artisans.
Paolo di Croce, Slow Food’s general director, said the diversity of participation reflected the movement’s understanding of food as both cultural expression and political action, and emphasized the role of gastronomy in biodiversity protection.
“This region holds extraordinary food biodiversity,” Di Croce told Mongabay. “But biodiversity survives because communities protect it. Agroecology is how that protection becomes practical.”
Agroecology as a solution
Agroecology has become a key facet of Slow Food’s global mission, and emerged repeatedly at the event as a unifying framework linking food production with ecosystem restoration and social equity. During a featured talk, Arby Duero, advocacy officer with the Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP), framed agroecology as a nature-based solution, denoting an approach that uses ecosystems to address social and environmental challenges.
Before discussing specific cases, Duero stressed that genuine nature-based solutions must go beyond conservation outcomes alone. “Most conservation projects only provide biodiversity benefits,” Duero said. “But for nature-based solutions, it has to be both.” She said that projects must simultaneously strengthen ecosystems and improve food security and livelihoods, particularly as climate change intensifies disaster risks across the Philippines.
Drawing from FFP-supported initiatives, Duero pointed to community-led agroecology projects among Indigenous Tagbanua communities in the western Philippines as an example of how this works. In coastal areas where fishing becomes impossible during strong typhoons and where erosion threatens shorelines, Tagbanua families rely on traditional root crops such as cassava and sweet potato. These provide a critical resource when seas are too rough to fish, while planting along slopes and coastal areas helps stabilize soil and reduce erosion.
Duero said similar approaches combining agroforestry (intercropping trees and shrubs with crops), seed-saving and organic farming are being applied by organizations in different ecosystems across the country, from upland farms to coastal landscapes. Across the Philippines, Duero noted that communities are facing overlapping pressures from climate impacts, environmental degradation and food insecurity, underscoring the need for integrated, community-led responses.
“Nature-based solutions are very cost-effective and sustainable,” Duero said. “Most importantly, they can address multiple problems at the same time.”
Climate shocks and a call for regeneration
The urgency of these discussions was heightened by recent extreme weather, as Terra Madre Asia & Pacific opened in the wake of two typhoons that affected parts of the island of Negros, disrupting farming and fishing communities.
“Continuing with this gathering is essential,” Mukiibi said in a statement, noting that Slow Food’s presence helped sustain local economies during recovery.
For Ramon “Chin-Chin” Uy Jr., Slow Food councilor for Southeast Asia and a long-time organic agriculture advocate in Negros, climate change demands a shift beyond sustainability toward regeneration.
“Sustainability is not enough anymore,” Uy told Mongabay. “We need to regenerate, to make the land better than it was before.”
Uy said organic and diversified farms on Negros have shown greater resilience to heavy rains and droughts because healthy soils retain more water and nutrients. “Organic soils can absorb up to four times more water,” he said. “That’s why they are more resilient.”
Regional Indigenous food systems
Beyond the Philippines, the convergence amplified Indigenous and local food systems from across the region, highlighting how biodiversity conservation, food sovereignty and cultural survival are inseparable.
From West Kalimantan province in Indonesian Borneo, Slow Food community leader Imanul Huda described how Indigenous Tamambaloh Dayak and ethnic Melayu communities have sustainably harvested wild forest honey for generations. Managing a 1,143-hectare (2,824-acre) community forest, they produce 10–15 metric tons of multiflora honey annually while keeping rainforest ecosystems intact.
“The forest is our source of honey, so we protect it first,” Huda told Mongabay. “We don’t cut the trees. We only harvest part of the nest so the bees can come back.”
The honey comes from Apis dorsata, a wild forest bee that nests high in large trees. Harvesting follows strict seasonal and cultural rules, including ritual prayers before climbing. Wildlife such as sun bears and orangutans also feed on the honey, but communities do not view them as competitors.
Huda said that when the forest is healthy, both people and wildlife benefit.
From Bali, another Indonesian island, Gusti Ayu Komang Sri Mahayuni, a farmer and guardian of heritage rice seeds, shared how agroecology sustains cultural identity. Working with women and youth, she leads family gardening and seed-saving efforts that revive traditional rice varieties displaced by high-yield hybrids.
“Rice is not only our food,” Mahayuni told Mongabay. “Rice is our ritual. Rice is our spirit.”
In northern Thailand, Lee Ayu, an Indigenous Akha community leader based in Chiang Mai, described how agroforestry-based coffee farming has become a pathway for environmental stewardship and cultural pride. Through his social enterprise, Akha Ama Coffee, he works with Indigenous farmers to grow coffee under forest canopies alongside native trees.
“We grow coffee in a way that keeps the forest standing,” Lee told Mongabay, explaining that shaded systems protect soil, support biodiversity and improve resilience to climate extremes.
See a related interview: Why is a Philippine island now the Asia Pacific center for agroecology? Interview with Ramon ‘Chin-Chin’ Uy Jr.
‘We’ll fight GMOs’
Amid celebrations of biodiversity and agroecology, debates over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) surfaced repeatedly, particularly proposals to introduce GMO corn and rice on Negros Island.
Uy criticized the lack of meaningful consultation around proposed trials of GMO corn and rice on the island, saying the push appears to benefit only a narrow set of interests, while risking long-term harm to farmers, biodiversity and soil health.
“We’ll fight it,” Uy told Mongabay. “The reasoning is very weak. There was no proper consultation, and in the end it’s only one sector that really benefits, while farmers and the environment carry the risks.”
Local farming leaders echoed those concerns. Elpidio Paglumutan, an organic corn farmer and community leader from southern Negros, said he opposes it based on decades of experience.
“If GMO corn enters Negros, farmers will be trapped,” Paglumutan told Mongabay. He said corporate seed systems often require farmers to buy seeds bundled with fertilizers and pesticides, on credit. “When you compute all the costs, what remains for the farmer is very small — or nothing.”
Paglumutan contrasted this with native corn varieties, which he said can be replanted, be stored for longer, and perform better in diversified farms. Over time, he warned, GMO and hybrid crops degrade soil health and deepen dependence on chemicals.
“At first the harvest can be high,” he said. “But later the soil is damaged, and farmers become more dependent.”
Looking ahead
As Terra Madre Asia & Pacific concluded, organizers emphasized that the gathering was intended to strengthen long-term relationships among food communities across the region rather than produce immediate policy outcomes.
Slow Food’s Di Croce said establishing a permanent presence in Bacolod reflects the movement’s broader effort to decentralize its work and invest in regions facing acute food and climate pressures. “This region holds extraordinary food biodiversity,” he said, underscoring the importance of sustained exchanges beyond global summits.
Mukiibi similarly described Slow Food’s new Bacolod hub as a platform for continued regional engagement. “This event looks ahead to the future of the continent and beyond,” he said, pointing to plans to reconvene food communities every two years.
For local agroecology leader Uy, the significance of Terra Madre Asia & Pacific lay in the regional networks formed among farmers, chefs, Indigenous leaders and food advocates.
“This is really about building relationships,” Uy said. “Building networks, exchanging culture, and talking about how we can make the world a better place.”
Keith Anthony Fabro is a Philippine-based journalist specializing in environmental reporting, with a particular focus on wildlife trafficking and ocean conservation across Southeast Asia and beyond.
Banner image: Participants at Terra Madre Asia Pacific celebrate day 5 of the regional ‘good food’ event in November 2025. Image courtesy of Slow Food.
Related audio from Mongabay’s podcast: Top agriculture researcher and agroecology author Vandana Shiva explains the power and promise of agroecology, listen here:
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