Feasibility Study and Capacity Development for Strengthening Disaster Risk Management and Rural Resilience in Cambodia Donor / Partner:  World Bank (WB)  |   Duration: 2016-2017  |  Location: Cambodia [...]

Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) and Farmer Water Users Community (FWUC) Support Donor / Partner: ADB    |    Duration: 2015-2017   |    Location: Cambodia About: [...]

> View and download the report, Vietnam’s vanishing wildlife: the new threat of climate change  Climate change threatens species-rich habitats in protected lands in Vietnam. [...]

ICEM developed this land suitability for biochar application map for the Biochar Assessment and Soil Mapping Study. Download the high-resolution version. [...]

Bringing Nature Back The Mekong region faces some of the world's most damaging weather-related disasters. Storms, floods, and drought visit the region every year. Climate change stands to [...]

Strategic Mainstreaming of Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Vietnam Donor / Partner: GIZ    |    Duration: 2015-2016   |    Location: Viet Nam About: Vietnam is a biodiversity [...]

ICEM developed this comprehensive map of soil types in the Greater Mekong Subregion for the Biochar Assessment and Soil Mapping Study. Download the [...]

About: Urban areas are recognised internationally as a critical component for realising green growth. Cities concentrate environmental issues from air and water pollution, solid waste and GHG emissions, and frequently face challenges posed by poor drainage, sanitation and flood control. Moreover, providing urban services and infrastructure offers opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of provision while increasing resilience and addressing social and economic development needs.

Lao PDR is among the least developed countries in the world and, according to IPPC findings, is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Because of the region's high poverty rates and low development progress, livelihoods that are already affected by the impacts of existing climate variability become highly sensitive to climate change.

In 2014/2015, ICEM conducted a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) of the proposed Nam Ngiep Hydropower 1 Project (NNP1) in Lao PDR. The overall objective of the study was to assess the climate risk of the proposed Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower Project (NNP1) in Lao PDR, and to identify measures to increase its climate resilience.

Natural systems are the essential foundation for Mekong town development and rehabilitation. The Resource Kit for Building Resilience and Sustainability in Mekong Towns is a seven-volume kit that promotes the maintenance and use of natural systems as a key strategy for building sustainability and resilience in urban areas. Prepared for the Asian Development Bank by ICEM as part of the award-winning TA 8186, the resource kit is built on the experience and expertise of a wide variety of professionals from the Mekong region and abroad.

This informational poster was developed as part of the Myanmar Healthy Rivers Initiative to give an overview of the project objectives, outputs, and monitoring. It was presented at the WLE Myanmar Project Launch in March 2015. > Visit the Myanmar Healthy Rivers Initiative project page for more information.

About: The Salween River lies at the cross roads of Asia linking South and Southeast Asia with Tibetan Plateau and providing a home and well-being to more than 13 distinct ethnic groups and 10 million people. As Myanmar develops, the relationship between the river’s stakeholders and the underlying biophysical system changes. New stakeholders are emerging with new values and needs and are placing new demands and pressures on the river and the health of the system. In this context, efforts to understand the health of river ecosystems and the values which different stakeholders ascribe to the goods and services derived from the river system will help set a benchmark of how development decisions at the national, provincial and local level will impact on different user groups.

About: Action to tackle climate change in Cambodia is crucial. Cambodia will be a hotspot for climate change in the region. Average maximum daily temperatures in the wet season are projected to increase from between 1.7 to 5.3°C. Average dry season temperatures will also increase with a range of between 1.5 to 3.5°C. Trends in precipitation are also expected to change over the coming decades. Seasonal variability in rainfall patterns will grow, resulting in wetter wet seasons and drier dry seasons.

About: Biochar provides an innovative solution for GMS gender-responsive and climate-friendly agriculture. Biochar is the carbon rich product produced when biomass such as such as wood, manure or leaves, is heated with little or no available oxygen. It is added to soils to improve soil functions and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from biomass. Using biomass to produce biochar can release much less smoke that open burning by conventional practices that would otherwise naturally degrade to greenhouse gases.

About: The Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower Project is a hydropower generation facility planned for a location in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) within the lower Nam Ngiep Catchment approximately 145 kilometres (km) northeast of Vientiane and approximately 50 km north of Pakxan. The Nam Ngiep is a tributary to the Mekong River, joining the Mekong immediately upstream of Pakxan. Primary components of the Project are a concrete gravity dam, storage reservoir, main power station and re-regulation power station, and power regulation and transmission facilities.

About: The Mekong Basin with its complex monsoon climate is highly exposed to climate change. Average annual temperatures are expected to increase by 3-5°C by mid-century with average wet season precipitation increasing by 3-14% (USAID, 2013). For the floodplain areas of Cambodia and Viet Nam, increases in wet precipitation will be coupled with increased peak daily precipitation events and drier dry seasons, compounding water availability issues by making wet seasons wetter and dry seasons drier (USAID, 2013).

> View and download the full Regional Knowledge Sharing Workshop final report with appendices > View and download the Regional Knowledge Sharing Workshop final report [...]

Optimizing the management of a cascade of reservoirs at the catchment level Donor / Partner: CGIAR   |    Duration: 2012-2013   |    Location: Vietnam, Lao [...]

Prepared by ICEM, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and School of Environmental Science and Management (SchEM), the SESA presents a brief history of forest management in Nepal, forest types, and key environmental issues. It also outlines the reality of climate change vulnerability and impacts in Nepal, and highlights some of the important linkages, issues and potential trade-offs when considering strategic options to achieve REDD+.

Prepared by ICEM, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and School of Environmental Science and Management (SchEM), the ESMF provides a framework for effective management of environmental and social issues in implementing the REDD+ Strategy. It seeks to both enhance the environmental and social development benefits of REDD+ actions and projects and mitigate any adverse impacts.

About: Nepalese people are highly dependent on forests and forest products to fulfill energy demands and for timber for construction and maintenance of houses and buildings. The main reasons for the conversion of forest areas are encroachment for resettlement/agriculture, and acquisition of forest area for infrastructure development including road expansion.

> View and download the Natural Systems and Climate Change Resilience in the Lower Mekong Basin report This report draws from the past decade of climate change [...]

About: Rapid urbanization is taking place in South East Asia, with cities in the region expanding five times faster than those in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Urban growth in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in the next 50-100 years is expected to be primarily experienced in small and medium-sized cities and peri-urban areas along existing and new growth corridors. Many of these areas are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

About: The Mekong River Basin faces a grave threat from climate change. Communities and governments must work together to develop and promulgate adaptation strategies that preserve the lives and livelihoods of some 60 million people. ICEM is working with DAI and SEA START as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (ARCC) project to generate new data, new approaches and to spur adaptive change in the Mekong River Basin.

The Impact of Water Supply Infrastructure on Floods and Droughts in the Mekong Region and the Implications for Food Production under the Mekong Challenge Program on [...]