Improved Management of Extreme Events through Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Watersheds

BACKGROUND

As a result of climate change, floods and droughts in Thailand will increase in frequency as well as intensity. Local water management institutions lack technical capacity and innovative concepts to address such extreme events. Therefore, the population of Thailand is expected to face large economic losses due to crop failures and production breakdowns. Water providing and regulating ecosystem services present untapped adaptation potential for cost effective and sustainable prevention measures.

Objectives and approaches

The project has mainly three objectives:

To support the local water departments in the Chi and Tha Di basins in planning ecosystem-based adaptation measures against the effects of extreme events

To reflect the project experiences into the national adaptation strategy for the water sector

To enable officials of the relevant water authorities to design and evaluate ecosystem-based adaptation measures​

The project targets two pilot watersheds threatened by the impacts of climate change

To increase the adaptive capacity of the two watersheds, relevant professionals (from government institutions, universities, etc.) will be advised on integrating their expertise, activities and sources of information. Thus, synergies can be used and the efficiency of water management in the corresponding catchment areas can be improved on the base of a common information management.

The inclusion of the population is ensured by their involvement in stakeholder platforms. These platforms are based on the existing “River Basin Management Committees”.

Innovative ecosystem-based adaptation approaches will be implemented for demonstration purposes in the catchment areas. This is supported by training courses in ecosystem-based adaptation for relevant stakeholders.

Based on the experiences gained from the interventions in the pilot watersheds, ecosystem-based adaptation approaches are fed into the development of adaptive capacities at the national level. In addition, education and training formats on ecosystem-based adaptation will be established both in the target region and at the national level.

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