Participants from the Philippines visit the Nong Bualoy Project in Phrae Province, Thailand.
The project Ecosystem-based Adaptation in 2 River Basins (E2RB) visited Thailand on 19-23 June 2023 for a study tour. Project partners including representatives from the national and regional offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and local government units took part in the activity.
The delegation visited field sites of the Thai-German Climate Programme (TGCP), which is financed through the German International Climate Initiative (IKI). TGCP is a technical cooperation between the governments of Germany and Thailand for enhancing the national framework conditions for climate-sensitive Integrated Water Resources Management and Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) solutions to prevent and reduce the impacts of climate change and water-related disasters at national and river basin levels. The similarities of E2RB and TGCP provide an opportunity for a productive exchange of experiences between the two countries.
The activity kicked off with a policy dialogue with the Office of National Water Resource Management (ONWR)-Thailand, the lead agency in river basin management. It was followed by a visit to the Chualongkorn University Centenary Park in Bangkok and interactions with the Phrae Water Resource Data Centre and the Nong Bualoy Project in Phrae Province. The Philippine delegation shared their experience in river basin management policies, digital applications, and ecosystem-based adaptation measures in the Ilog-Hilabangan and Tagum-Libuganon river basins.
The activity demonstrated the value of peer learning in enriching the understanding of climate-induced risks and finding appropriate EbA solutions to reduce the vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. (E2RB/ Mylene Grace Velasquez, Marion Antonette Daclan)
