The Sustainable Diner project of WWF-Philippines, together with the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) project of WWF-Indonesia and the Sustainable Seafood project of WWF-Hong Kong, have co-organized a side session entitled “Asia’s Ecological Foodprint: How Can We Localize Sustainable Agri-Food Systems?”. This session tackles and discusses the current unsustainable consumption and production practices being experienced in the region’s various industries, mainly in food service, food retail, palm oil, and fisheries. The panel was facilitated by Liezl Stuart Del Rosario, The Sustainable Diner project’s Policy Specialist, who opened the session with a brief introduction on WWF, followed by the first panel presentation from WWF-Indonesia.

Dewi Satriani, WWF-Indonesia’s Conservation Communications Manager and Project Manager for Sustainable Consumption and Production, mainly shared her work in handling the flagship SCP campaign of WWF-Indonesia called “Beli Yang Baik,” translated to “Buy Better.” This encourages Indonesian consumers to assess the sustainability of products first before purchasing. The campaign has divided specific consumer actions into three categories: choosing, using, and disposing. It highlights six specific consumer actions: “Beli Yang Perlu,” or “Buy What Is Necessary,” “Beli Yang Lokal,” or “Buy Local,” “Beli Yang Awet,” or “Buy What Is Durable,” “Beli Yang Alami” or  “Buy Natural,” “Beli Yang Ekolabel” or “Buy Those With Ecolabels,” and “Maudibawa Kemana,” which promotes recycling and being mindful of where our wastes go after usage. Satriani also talked about the importance of optimizing digital channels such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook when creating and promoting local consumer campaigns, stating that environmental organizations such as WWF need to know where they can find their local target audience in order to successfully deliver key campaign messages. “Localizing means knowing where and how to talk to your consumers, because different consumers from different countries are present in different platforms,” says Satriani. “It is our job to make sure that we deliver our message correctly, not just in terms of data, but also in terms of aligning our strategies with the habits of our consumers”.