Research findings by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the University of Exeter (UNEXE) in the United Kingdom have offered climate change adaptation strategies for farmers who rely on the Mun River in Thailand's Northeast.
The AIT in association with the UNEXE held a technical workshop that is part of the research project: "ENRICH: ENhancing ResIlienCe to future hydro-meteorological extremes in the Mun River basin in Northeast of Thailand".
The project assessed plausible future land-use change and climate change scenarios in the Mun River basin and their combined impacts on future climate-induced hydro-meteorological extremes.
With results showing that under combined stressors of climate change and land-use change, the research team suggested the duration of agriculture droughts of a 10-year return period will increase by 50%.
The researchers also said the severity of droughts will increase by more than 150%.
This would affect the agriculture sector and subsequently alter food security, economic wellbeing and social stability.
In response, the researchers have proposed adaptation strategies, which include creating water storage and shifting planting dates as rain start earlier.
Among other strategies, they proposed using a combination of water and fertiliser/nutrient management to increase both the quality and stability of crop production and prevent or lessen the impacts of extreme weather.
"Climate analyses using several climate models suggest that in the future, both dry and wet extremes are going to be more frequent and more severe," said Dibesh Khadka, a PhD student in water engineering management, AIT, as he concluded a presentation.
The ENRICH programme was first established in October 2018 and ran for three years and was completed this month.