Project Objective

Food insecurity resulting from climate change in Lao PDR minimized and vulnerability of farmers to extreme flooding and drought events reduced

Background

The proposed project will implement a top priority identified in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), which was finalized and submitted to the UNFCCC on 22nd May, 2009. The NAPA process has identified four sectors as being highly vulnerable to climate change and requiring priority adaptation measures: agriculture, forestry, water resources, and health.

The NAPA has confirmed that the primary climate change-related hazards in Lao PDR are floods and droughts and their adverse impacts on food security and agricultural production. Climate change is expected to have a range of impacts which includes increases in annual mean temperatures by around 0.1-0.3 oC per decade; a longer annual dry season; more intensive rainfall events; and more frequent and severe drought and flooding events. The 4th IPCC report (2007) indicates that the Mekong basin is expecting increasing maximum monthly flows of +35-41% and decreasing minimum monthly flows of 17-24% over the course of this century, which will substantially increase flooding risks in the wet season and water scarcity in the dry season.

Source: Project Identification Form - Lao PDR: Improving the Resilience of the Agriculture Sector in Lao PDR to Climate Change Impacts, 4 August 2009