Continental Southeast Asia

Context and issues

The region's value chains and environments are changing rapidly, to satisfy its fast-growing urban population and produce goods for export. Its countries are working to boost both quantity and quality (particularly sanitary quality), prompted by the emergence of a more demanding middle class. This has triggered growing pressure on livestock production systems and on animal health, driven by exponential market growth (China) and the need to manage emerging diseases of zoonotic origin. The region has substantial innovation capacity: its public and private R&D sector is highly dynamic, with rapid uptake of innovations on the part of economic players.

Southeast Asia is one of the richest regions in the world in terms of endemic plant and animal species. It also has major linguistic diversity, and is a major hub for the domestication of plant and animal varieties. Southeast Asia is also a global hotspot in terms of threatened biodiversity and cultural diversity. Numerous zoonoses have emerged in the region (including Southeast China) in recent decades, and the development of economic corridors and their integration into the new Silk Roads have brought major cross-border  health risks. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the failure of current zoonotic epidemic forecasting strategies. The One Health approach championed by CIRAD and its partners, notably within the Emerging Diseases in Southeast Asia platform in partnership for research and training (dP GREASE), is intended to build the skills of professionals and policymakers in terms of understanding how diseases and health crises emerge, and to provide the various stakeholders with tools to change the social, environmental and economic situation in the region, to reduce the adverse effects on public health in general and human health in particular.

CIRAD in Vietnam: 30 years of partnership

From 25 to 29 September, a packed programme of events is planned to mark CIRAD's 30 years in Vietnam.

Main research fields

• Risk prevention and management
• Poverty alleviation in the face of environmental and social catastrophes
• Food safety 
• Zoonotic risks
• Transforming value chains and environment/territory pairings to ensure sustainable food supplies
• Health and environment
• Sustainable tropical tree crop systems

Some key projects

• Towards more sustainable food systems in Southeast Asia - ASSET
• A health network to secure poultry production in South Asia
• Rethinking of Antimicrobial Decision-systems in the Management of Animal Production - ROADMAP
• Preventing future zoonotic diseases and pandemics - PREZODE, Southeast Asia and China

Platforms in partnership (dPs)

• Emerging Diseases in Southeast Asia - GREASE
• Agroecology for Southeast Asia - ASEA
• Rubber Production in Southeast Asia - HRPP
• Sustainable Food Systems for Cities in Asia - MALICA

Teaching and training

Regional diploma training is a priority

CIRAD works with higher education organizations in the region to organize, lead and supervise diploma and vocational training, PhD schools workshops, courses, study trips and internships. It supervises a number of PhD and Masters students from across Asia each year. In terms of ongoing vocational training, CIRAD organizes short and medium-length internships and courses for students from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in host laboratories in the global North.

Higher education courses organized with universities

Franco-Thai international Masters: InterRisk - Assessment and management of health risks at the human, animal and ecosystem interface
Within the framework of the One Health approach, this Masters is led by CIRAD in association with Kasetsart University (Thailand). It is supported by MUSE (Montpellier University of Excellence), and will shortly involve other partners, notably the École Inter-États des Sciences et Médecine Vétérinaires de Dakar at Cheikh-Anta-Diop University (Senegal).

Masters from the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH)
CIRAD is involved in several Masters in the fields of plant biotechnology, renewable energy, water-environment, information science and technology, computer science, etc.

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