GWP Thailand has planned the activities with the networks in critical river basins. For 2012, river basins selected were: Lower Ping basin of the Northern region, Huai Luang basin of the Northern region, and Pattanee basin of the Southern region. Lower Ping basin represents the great area for rice production of the North. Huai Luang basin is connected to the Mekong international river, and is part of the water diversion program from Nam Ngum river basin in the Laos, PDR. Pattanee basin in the most southern part of Thailand contributes to local livelihoods of people in the three southern most sensitive provinces: Pattanee, Yala, and Narathiwas. The basin condition is the overuse of resources and it is deteriorating.
The objectives of the activities are:
- to strengthen the capacity of the RBC, and upscale their potentials in the data collecting and the analysis the issues in their river basins,
- to strengthen the participation and collaboration in finding the possible solutions among multi-stakeholders in the basins.
Both GWP Thailand and the network collecting all data on small scale eco-systems, and the practical use of participatory GIS for the risk mapping by local stakeholders in the communities and small scale eco-systems.
The goal of the activity is that the direct users are able to adapt to changes: extreme weather, economic integration, social intervention, and etc. Changes are the forming of cooperation among different actors. Informal local mechanism is promoted. The collaborative of the local mechanism will help promote its function in conflict management. Direct users are able to identify the root cause of the problems, collect and analyze the involved data of the eco-systems in the basins as well as to explore the possibilities or the appropriate alternatives, which will lead to the adaptation to changes: extreme weather, economic integration, social interaction.
GWP Thailand applied the knowledge from GWP policy brief on IWRM as guideline for the activity. The Senate Commission on Water, Sea, and Coastal resources has been great support for both financial and technical knowledge for this activity.
From this activity, all users learned to:
- Address appropriate direct users, so that they can identify real issues and problems and will lead to initiatives to find possible solutions and alternatives.
- Issues in the river basin have to be tackled at different levels simultaneously. Local initiatives from field practical level will have to be facilitated through their self actualization process. Adaptive management should also be supported at the institutional level. Collaborative (to all stakeholders) and responsive policies (to change processes) should be promoted.
- Public learning is crucial if the adaptation to changes is to be sustained. Learning process needs to be through continuous communication and dialogues among all stakeholders.