Vientiane.- Representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) concluded their participation in a two day validation workshop to prepare a project that will provide Lao PDR with technological and knowledge capacity to adapt agriculture to climate change and sustain food security.

Mr. Sithanh Soutichack, Director General of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology from MONRE, Mr. Kouang Douangsila, Deputy Director General of the Department of Agricultural and Land Management of MAF chaired the event together with FAO Representative to Lao PDR, Dr. Stephen Rudgard.

Around 76% of the total population of Lao PDR is involved in agriculture, mainly producing with traditional farming methods. Food self-sufficiency depends on families’ preparedness to extreme climate event such as flood and droughts.

One of the project objectives is to rehabilitate agro-meteorological facilities, such as weather stations in the major agricultural production areas, laboratories and devices to allow the gathering of data and information of early warning and climate information services.

Similarly, the project envisions the development of a countrywide database on Land Resource Information Management Systems (LRIMS) and Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) modeled from FAO’s Global Agro-ecological zones Database (GAEZ). This technology will allow the MAF and MONRE to conduct assessments of climate change impacts on land, soil, water and crops. The project also envisions strengthening the technical capacity of government staff at the national, provincial and district levels to analyze and interpret meteorological information to develop materials such as seasonal climate forecasts.

The workshop was part of the preparation phase for this $5.5 million project funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF) that will support Lao PDR’s policies on climate change adaptation such as the National Adaptation Programme of Action (2009) and the National Early Warning Strategy (2011) among others.

Technical experts from FAO Asia Pacific Office and Headquarters, as well as development agencies with ongoing initiatives on climate change adaptation in Lao PDR were invited to include inputs and recommendations that will define the project results.

FAO is helping Lao PDR to be able to receive the technology and knowledge that are key to generate reliable information about potential food insecurity risks and develop climate responsive policies. It is expected that the project will be implemented over 4 years starting from mid-2016. Currently the project is on a preparation phase, which will conclude by July 2015 with a detailed and comprehensive project document.