This piece shares highlights from our research, media and policy engagement events in the last two months.
April and May has been an eventful period for our SUMERNET 4 All program.
We co-organized the side-event "Priority Needs for Policy and Partnership Towards Strengthening Mekong Transboundary Cooperation" at the Fourth International Mekong River Commission, held from 2-5 April in Lao PDR. Convening key policymakers in the region, the panel discussed key gaps in transboundary cooperation and ways to fill those gaps for enhanced partnerships and information-sharing in the Mekong region.
Transboundary cooperation is built up on mutual understanding of concerns and knowledge, but engaging local communities would also help. Our reflection from the Mekong Research Symposium (held in Chiang Rai in March 2023) emphasized the importance of local knowledge and community engagement in development processes and transboundary cooperation.
The role of the community is also highlighted in the 9th episode of our SUMERNET 4 ALL podcast series, which was released on 3 May 2023. In this episode, Dr Yanyong Inmuong explains how flood risks could be better managed when the community is involved in the design and management of early warning systems through case studies in Northeastern Thailand.
On the people front, we launched the SUMERNET Young Professionals group to connect early-career professionals in the SUMERNET network for knowledge sharing, capacity building, and collaboration. Join them here and stay tuned for more exciting activities on their social media channel in the upcoming months.
Lastly, we also released the SUMERNET Talent Book, a special profile collection of SUMERNET researchers whose expertise and experience have enriched research, academic and policy discourses on sustainable development of the Mekong Region.