THE Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) believe human ecology as a field of study will help address the problems or needs faced by the Southeast Asian region particularly on climate change, natural resource degradation, and food security and nutrition.

This idea was promoted during the first international conference on human ecology for Asia hosted by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and the Philippine government-hosted SEARCA on November 28 to December 1.