MEKONG-GANGA DIALOGUE - Observer Research Foundation

and hence the mitigation methods. Now, focus should be on treating flood
management as part of adaptation strategies.
How does data eventually flow from the bottom to the top and also laterally?
There needs to be rapid means of communication through infrastructure
development – contributing to data dissemination. Therefore, immediate
actions can be taken in situation like flash floods.
Democratization of data collection through community-based participation is
imperative for strategic planning for flood management. Participatory data
collection at the minimum watershed unit level that cuts across
administrative, revenue and political boundaries seems to be fundamental in
understanding the nature of the basin itself. This in effect can feed into some
of the methods and technologies (GPS, mobiles etc.) that in turn can be used
for this data collection. A plural multi-stakeholder forum needs to be in place
to aggregate this method of data collection with the bottom-up approach.
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