Launch of projects funded by the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Special Fund

On 18 January 2023, SEI signed a contract to launch its collaboration with Thailand’s Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) and the Environmental Research Institute Chulalongkorn University (ERIC) on the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Program 2022 funded by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

There are two projects under the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Program 2022:

• Project 1: Building Water Sector Youth Leadership Network in the Mekong-Lancang/Lancang-Mekong Region.

This project is envisioned as an initial scoping phase of a long-term multi-year program to “build a regional Water Sector Youth Leadership Network (WSYLN) consisting of a new generation of practitioners, researchers, and community leaders for inclusive governance and management of water resources and related issues, by sharing knowledge, best practices, and cooperating on research and other joint actions across the basin and beyond, building on existing youth networks in the Mekong-Lancang/Lancang-Mekong Region.”

For MLC project on building water sector youth leadership network, the project kick-off meeting was organized with the active participation of the representatives of four implementing agencies along with experts from Thailand and China on 26^th June 2023 to ensure a common understanding of the project objectives, scope, and work plan, to get to know and strengthen partnerships among all project team members and discuss and agree on upcoming activities of the project. The survey questionnaire for the review of existing youth networks/programs/ initiatives has been finalised and circulated to the stakeholders to respond . The trainings for the youth/young professionals are being planned as part of the 1st Regional Consultation Workshop that will be held in late October 2023 in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

• Project 2: Promoting climate-smart water technologies and innovations for sustainable water resources and rice production under climate change in the Lancang-Mekong Region.

The main aim of this project is to promote climate-smart water technologies and innovations in rice farming systems in both irrigation and rainfed areas, to save on scarce water supply, reduce water demands, and provide field water, land, and soil information to farmers to enable them to make better water resource use decisions under climate change and water scarcity conditions in the Mekong-Lancang Region.

The progress in implementing the MLC project entitled  “Promoting climate-smart water technologies and innovations for sustainable water resources and rice production under climate change in the Lancang-Mekong Regio” is going well according to the proposed plan. 

The project conducted online meetings with the project partners in China and Lao PDR in May 2023 to discuss the scope of the works, followed by the kick-off project meeting in June 2023 and preliminary field survey in July 2023 to meet with local partners in Thailand and investigate a demonstration site for the project at Nakhonratchasima Province where is the most impacted by drought in the country. 

Presently, we are collecting information and reviewing the literature to develop a “State of knowledge report on climate-smart water technologies and innovations in rice farming systems in the Lancang-Mekong region”. We plan to disseminate this knowledge in the regional meeting which is expected to be organized in October 2023. 

The project aims to seek synergy and enhance the cooperation among relevant programs and initiatives working on youth engagement in the region. Two fellows from SUMERNET Young Professionals Network have attended the project kick-off meeting held on 26^th June 2023 at Thailand’s Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR).