Final Technical Report - weADAPT

Part 2: Details Report
3 Introduction
This research studied the impact of climate change on hydrological regime and rain-fed
agriculture in Southeast Asia, which focused on lower Mekong River basin region. In
addition to study impact of climate change on bio-physical systems, this research also
assessed risk, vulnerability and adaptation of rain-fed farmer in the region to climate change
and variability.
The objectives of this research are not only to find the answers to the research problems,
but also to serve as pilot project to build research capacity in this discipline. The coverage of
the activities under this research, which spanned across 3 countries in the lower Mekong
River region - Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, had established a network of researchers that
may initiate more collaboration in the future for benefit of the region.
In addition, this research also aimed to develop framework of study, methodology, tool
and dataset that can be used for other study in the future. Among various outcomes of this
research, high resolution future climate scenario of the region is an important deliverable that
can be used for the study of climate change impact on various sectors and systems in the
future. Risk and vulnerability assessment method, which was developed under this research,
may also be used as guideline in the future assessment, even though they still need to be
further improved. The activities under this research also serve as the demonstration on the
scenario-based approach study. In addition, it also points out that the study on impact of
climate change need to be conducted with site specific or place-based approach, therefore,
the national or regional assessment would need to be conducted in wide scale with the issue
of trans-boundary impact well aware.
This research also aimed to raise awareness of climate change issues among the policy
makers and public sectors through series of workshop, meetings and published articles as
well as to stimulate more studies in the future.
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