Goal 13

Living Deltas

The Living Deltas Research Hub is funded for five years (2019-2024) and operates across four delta systems – Red River, Mekong deltas in Vietnam; the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna system in Bangladesh and India. We call these socio-ecological systems. The Living Deltas Hub’s AIM is to tackle the problem of delta degradation in the face of multiple threats (sea level rise and saline intrusion, mangrove degradation and loss of coastal buffering, climate change, population rise, land use changes, saline intrusion and communities health and well-being, unsustainable engineering interventions: damming, sand mining etc.). GCRF also aims at helping to delta countries to better achieve their UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Voluntary National Review agendas. The Hub aims to achieve its objectives via a process of CAPACITY-BUILDING though EQUITABLE PARTNERSHIP – only by doing this will the Hub have legacy beyond its five-year funding period. As such, this is an extremely ambitious research program – the most ambitious that the UK Research Councils have done up to now. The Hub is truly interdisciplinary and brings together the natural and physical sciences, the social sciences and the arts & humanities on an equal basis to seek new solutions (building on the research already carried out in the delta countries) to complex, intertwined issues through capacity-building and knowledge co-production towards BETTER DELTA FUTURES.

Keywords: Delta, Sustainability, Resilience, equitable livelihoods, socio-ecological systems

(more…)
By , ago

Spatio-temporal analysis on urban development and scenario-based flood risk assessment in Lower Mekong region

The project aimed at spatial and policy assessment on the future vulnerability to flood hazards in the context of urban growth for Lower Mekong region. Activities performed include: 1) development and dissemination of a flood risk assessment system combined with open-source global-scale geospatial and socioeconomic datasets on a cloud-based platform; and 2) organizing policy dialogue with key stakeholders and producing policy brief on the integration of flood risk considerations into urban development strategies for urban risk reduction and resilience.

Keywords Flood risk, Disaster risk reduction, Climate change, Sea level rise, Urban planning

Read more
By , ago

Cities by Women: Embedding Climate Change Resilience in Himalayan Cities

The research focuses on gender mainstreaming in the nexus of climate change, land use, and informal livelihoods in Himalayan cities. Expected activities include:
1) survey and mapping to examine how women in informal settlements use the urban spaces for their livelihoods and what the impacts of climate change on their daily activities are;
2) stakeholder workshop and networking to address and inform the urban policy about women’s role in building climate change resilience in Himalayan cities.

Keywords Gender, Climate change, Informal livelihood, Urban space, Urban planning

(more…)
By , ago

Technology needs assessment in Asia for climate change mitigation and adaptation

Several Asian Countries are conducting a country-driven Technology Needs Assessment for Climate Change mitigation and adaptation following specific methodology to come up with sector/technologies prioritization to deploy, identification of barriers, and technology action plan for short/medium/long term. AIT is the regional center to provide all technical guidance related to processes and provide inputs, and advices on the outputs of all Asian participating countries to complete the project. Countries are expected to come up with technology action plan for both mitigation and adaptation.

Keywords climate change, national assessment, mitigation, adaptation technologies

(more…)
By , ago

Delivery of Training Program for Technology Clinic for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand

The project was initiated based on the request from the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) which is the operational arm of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism and hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and supported by 11 partner institutions with expertise in climate technologies. This CTCN Assistance project is intended to deliver a training program on a Technology Clinic for SMEs (= SME Clinic) in Thailand in its agro-food processing sector. The project will undertake the following key activities: (i) preparation and finalization of training program; (ii) development of training materials; (iii) organization of an SME Clinic workshop; and (iv) preparation of a synthesis report and recommendations based on the workshop outcomes. The clinic workshop will cover topics to build the capacities of SMEs to a) acquire and streamline specific climate technologies into their processes; b) apply new business models; c) upgrade or develop new products or services; and d) develop business plans or proposals. The training material will cover, but not limited to, the transfer and commercialization of precision farming technologies for SMEs in agro-food sector, and discuss business case studies that demonstrate good practices relevant to the training program. These will be used to provide concrete examples on successful climate technology transfers from other countries and to provide ideas and guidance to participants in preparing their strategic action plans.

Keywords SME, capacity building, agriculture, food processing, business model, climate change

(more…)
By , ago

Low Business Opportunities in Forestry Project

This project is designed to train university lecturers, NGOs, and government officials from ASEAN member states on identifying the low-carbon business development opportunities created by forestry climate change project. Trainers were from Japan, ASEAN, and AIT. Training was held in Siem Reap in 16 – 23 March 2019 (3 days for fieldwork and 5 days for in-class lectures), for which more than 60 people attended. Trainers were from Asian Institute of Technologies, Japanese Universities, local universities in Cambodia, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and more from ASEAN member states.

Keywords REDD+, low carbon business, forestry, carbon credits

(more…)
By , ago

Detection of Land Use Change

This is project is a research collaboration project between Lund University in NRM of SERD, AIT in Thailand and the Royal University of Agriculture. Named FRAWASA, this project is aimed at identifying land cover change in Cambodia, assessing land availability for forest restoration and climate-smart agriculture. It suggests policy interventions for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and for increasing carbon stocks through forest restoration and smart agriculture.

Keywords REDD+, carbon emissions, carbon sequestration, carbon removals, emission reductions, forest restoration, climate smart agriculture

(more…)
By , ago

Evidenced Based analysis of Flood Risk Management and Social Vulnerability – A System Approach in Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand

The project aims to overview the status, risks and trends of the flood disasters in the Mueang District as a case to develop a system-based multi-disciplinary framework for local level risk assessment and recommend necessary future actions for decision-makers. The specific objectives of the project are; 1. To identify critical interdependent factors influencing vulnerability of the flood hazards. 2. To improve flood risk management by better understanding system behavior. 3. To understand a system of flood risk interventions across multi-sector levels and scales. 4. Identify the gaps and challenges and take actions on Risk Governance Mechanism at local level to improve and support long-term flood risk management. 5. To develop system based multi-stakeholder risk assessment tool for resilience index and recommend a community-based resilience framework for the flood prone community.

Keywords: System Approach, SDG, Social Vulnerability, Natural Disasters

(more…)
By , ago