Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand in association with the University of Exeter (UoE) in the United Kingdom, has organized the final technical workshop of the research project on “ENRICH: Enhancing Resilience to future Hydro-meteorological extremes in the Mun river basin in Northeast of Thailand” on Wednesday, 08 September 2021 using an online platform.
Dr. Eden Y. Woon, President of AIT, delivered a welcome remark and mentioned how climate change is worsening the hydro-meteorological extremes. He emphasized the importance of identifying the potential impacts of climate change to formulate resilient solutions. Dr. Woon also congratulated the entire project team from AIT and UoE and hoped the partnership would grow stronger in the future. Prof. Dieter W. Trau, Dean of School of Engineering and Technology (SET) AIT, also welcomed all the distinguished guests and participants. Ms. Kwansiri Wanwiwake, Head of Mission of International Affairs at National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), and Ms. Wendy Matcham, Head of Resilient Environment at Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) delivered the opening remarks in the workshop.
The ENRICH project has been implemented for three years, from October 2018 to September 2021, and is co-funded under the Newton Fund by the NRCT of Thailand and the NERC of the UK. The overarching aim of this project was to understand the impact of the combined stressors of climate variability, climate change, and land-use change on hydro-meteorological extremes in the Mun River Basin and recommend adaptation measures to enable sustainable management of water resources and improve water security in the coming decades. It consists of 4 broad work packages (WPs), which are WP1: Landuse Change, WP2: Climate Variability and Climate Change, WP3: Hydro-meteorological Extremes, and WP4: Adaptation Strategies and Measures for Droughts.
In the workshop’s opening session, Prof. Mukand Babel from AIT presented the overview of the project and the workshop’s objectives and expectations. Ms. Jessica Penny for UoE presented the results of WP1 during the first session. It was followed by the presentation on WP2 by Mr. Dibesh Khadka from AIT and Dr. Abayomi A. Abatan from UoE. In the third session, Mr. Khadka presented the key findings of WP3. In the fourth session, Prof. Tawatchai Tingsanchali from AIT presented the findings and recommendations from WP4. All of the presentations were followed by discussions with the participants.
The fifth session on ‘Way Forward and Future Research Direction’ was moderated by Prof. Babel. Participants actively presented the ideas on the future research and taking the findings of the project further. The importance of implementing the recommendations from the project in the Mun River basin was highlighted. Similarly, future research on integrative management of floods and droughts in the basin and decision support system was also discussed. During the closing session, Prof. Slobodan Djordjevic from UoE and Prof. Tawatchai from AIT thanked all the participants for joining the event and providing valuable inputs. The virtual workshop was attended by 88 participants from different government departments, universities, and research and international organizations.
