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The training organized by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok with the participation of the Department of Agricultural Land Management (DALAM) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF)

The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has organized the international training of trainers on Agro-Ecological Zonation (AEZ).  The training has been organized in collaboration with the FAO project “Strengthening Agro-climatic Monitoring and Information Systems (SAMIS) to improve adaptation to climate change and food security in Lao PDR” financed by GEF and implemented by FAO.  The training is been held in the premises of AIT from the 5^th to the 7^th of February and included highly skilled mapping and modelling participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Sri Lanka. The training has been opened by Mr Beau Damen, Climate Change Officer at the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok and by Dr. Kavinda Gunasekara, Associate Director of Geoinformatics Center, AIT. The training was held by various experts including Dr Freddy Nachtergaele, a world renamed expert and former FAO expert that participated to the development of the AEZ model since the eighties and Dr Gianluca Franceschini, FAO GIS expert. In addition, other important teachers included Prof. Rajendra Shrestha, Dean, School of Environment, Resources and Development, AIT, Dr. Kavinda Gunasekara, Associate Director of Geoinformatics Center,  and Mr. Lakmal Deshapriya and Mr. Thaileng Thol, both Research Associates at Geoinformatics Center, AIT.

Six renamed experts of the Department of Agricultural Land Management (DALAM) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) have travelled to Bangkok to learn about the AEZ mapping methodology and to learn how to use the software that is being produced by FAO to enable producing the maps with national data. The maps will enable knowing the areal distribution and potential of the crop in the present and in future, enabling the Ministry of Agriculture for better planning at national and local level. As defined in the SAMIS project document and with the agreement of the government, the maps produced with the AEZ method will enable knowing the areal distribution and potential yield of the crop in the future, using future climate scenarios for geographically identify issues and opportunities. 

The next step of the project will be the production of maps of the agro-ecological zoning for six major crops in the entire Lao PDR. DALAM is now working to start implementing and testing this mapping process with support of AIT and other international experts.