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Cross-sectoral meeting to explore climate-smart water technologies for rice production in the Lancang-Mekong Region

This regional meeting on 30-31 October shared examples of best practices and the current state of knowledge of climate-smart water technologies, innovations, and initiatives in the Lancang-Mekong Region.

We invited local journalists and media to cover this meeting. SEI’s Thanapon Piman also featured in the interview with Thai PBS Esan during the event.

Published on 30 October 2023
Media coverage contact

Thanapon Piman / thanapon.piman@sei.org

Press release

[Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand] – Around 70 participants from the Lancang-Mekong countries, including policymakers, government officers, farmers, academic institutions, private enterprises, and media will gather in Nakhon Ratchasima for a regional meeting on adopting climate-smart technologies.

The climate-smart technologies and innovations aim to manage water resources more efficiently to sustain rice cultivation and local farming livelihoods in a changing climate. It will help to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals including SDGs 2, 5, 6, 13 and 17.

As the impacts of climate change intensify, the Mekong-Lancang Basin is grappling with serious threats from severe droughts to floods that are affecting water availability and crop cultivation.

In 2019-2020, drought conditions affected 1,330 square kilometers of farmlands in Thailand alone causing damages of approximately US $320 million. In the coming years, as climate impacts worsen, concerns are growing over food security and the well-being of communities, in particular, those dependent on rice farming livelihoods.

Rice is a staple food crop critical for subsistence and the economic well-being of communities in the Mekong-Lancang Region. However, the region’s rice farmers are facing formidable challenges from climate change and water scarcity that is undermining their capacity to meet both their socio-economic needs and the demands of the market.

Given this context, there is an urgent need to explore climate-smart technologies that can enable rice farmers to tackle these escalating climate risks.

On 30th October, participants across the different sectors from government, policymakers and business to farmers and researchers along with media will meet to engage in discussions that will showcase good practices and proven techniques for climate-smart water technologies, present the state of knowledge of climate-smart water technologies and innovations, and set up a dialogue with policymakers on how to scale up climate-smart water technologies to build regional cooperation.

This meeting will feature a field visit to a “smart farm”, facilitated by the Royal Irrigation Department of Thailand to offer practical insights into the climate challenges faced by farmers. The field visit will provide participants with a closer look at how technology and adaptation can play a critical role in sustaining rice farming in the region.

The meeting will enable the exchange of technical know-how and cooperation to build local capacity in adopting climate-smart technologies and innovations.

 

This initiative is organized with the support of our project partners: Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR);Environmental Research Institute (ERIC), Chulalongkorn University; Thailand; China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), China;  China Changjiang Scientific Research Institute (CRSCI), China; Hubei University of Economics, China; and the National University of Laos (NUOL), Lao PDR, Lao National Mekong Committee (LNMC), Lao PDR. The project is funded by the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Special Fund 2022.

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Thanapon Piman
Thanapon Piman

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Asia

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