The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is highly vulnerable to climate change and disasters, which transcend national borders and require coordinated responses. Unexpected recurrence of disasters such as floods and drought have become commonplace in countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam.

Floods affect multiple countries that share rivers and basins. Drought in one country is likely replicated in a neighboring one, or it creates unmitigated migration of people to where they can access food more easily. Other calamities such as air pollution are transboundary, moving from country to another.

Communities, national governments, regional and international organizations acknowledge that, more than ever, solutions to climate change challenges need two components: accurate and timely information; and shared responsibility and cooperations among nations and member states of regional and international organizations.

Attending the 6th GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia earlier this month, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) management and technical experts provided the participants with solutions and ideas on how the region can deploy advanced technologies to inform better decision making.

Hans Guttman, ADPC Executive Director, giving the keynote speech at a technical session on Enhancing Climate Resilience in the GMS Through Data-Driven Strategies, highlighted the organization’s tech-savvy contributions.

"Data-driven approaches promote transparency and trust. Trust brings ownership and transparency," he told the participants. "When it comes to tackling transboundary challenges, transparency strengthens regional cooperation and collaboration," he added.

For his part, Peeranan Towashiraporn, Director of Risk Analytics & Climate Services, expanded on Guttman’s point during his keynote speech in the session Deploying Digital Technologies for Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability.

“The average annual cost of floods in the Lower Mekong Basin ranges from US$60-70 million. Cambodia and Vietnam alone commonly account for approximately two-thirds of the region’s total annual flood damage,” said Towashiraporn.

“Accurate and timely data and technologies are key to managing climate extreme events. However, there remain gaps between having very good data and using them to make better decisions for environmental and climate resilience,” he added.

His experience to support the region’s decision makers to use satellite data to aid climate actions comes through the implementation of the SERVIR Southeast Asia (SERVIR SEA) project.

SERVIR SEA – a joint partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the ADPC – uses publicly available geospatial data and satellite technology to provide communities and governments in Southeast Asia with climate change solutions.

Guttman, in his speech, for example, pointed to how ADPC and SERVIR SEA have helped the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to significantly enhance the lead time and reliability of its flood forecast systems from 6 to up to 15 days.

Hans Guttman

But technology cannot solve problems on its own.Joining Guttman and Towashiraporn in the technical session, Aaron Brownell, Director of the Regional Environment of USAID, added that partnership was key in succeeding regional and transboundary cooperation on climate issues. The Regional Development Mission for Asia of USAID has a mandate to support and collaborate with local regional organizations such as ADPC and MRC for positive development impacts in Southeast Asia.

Peeranan Towashiraporn

ADPC Senior Water Resources Management Specialist Niladri Gupta reminded the audience during his presentation at the Building Climate and Disaster Resilience session that effective strategies have inevitably included those that took in the participation of marginalized groups and helped mobilize communities.

Niladri Gupta

Many of those communities do not readily have access to the information they need but are helped by organizations such as the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). The organization’s Parichat Pinsri, for example, pointed to how the SEI has served as a knowledge base to help communities in Thailand manage their flood risks.

Whether it is government officials or community activists, users of geospatial information need capacity enhancement before being able to utilize the knowledge.

While ADPC programs can help countries co-develop tools and provide other technical knowledge that address specific needs, enhancing capacity, Jaiganesh Murugesan, the Asian Development Bank Lao PDR Resident Mission, said there exists disparity in the capacity and data access among the countries in Southeast Asia.

Ultimately, the sobering discussions and panels of the 6th GMS Environment Ministers’ meeting pointed to some realities that perhaps the participants knew already but merited repetition:

While the GMS region has made significant progress on integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) realities into laws, policies, frameworks, and action plans at the regional and national levels, the region has already achieved a considerable amount in tackling climate change.

GMS countries need to have more dialogues and specifically address how to collectively invest in Nature and foster Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Community-based Adaptation. They also should be mindful that technology plays a critical role in climate mitigation: climate data, modelling in relation to hazard forecasting, and scenarios for potential regional impacts.