Flood and Drought Symposium discusses methods and tools for impact-reduction
More than 200 people attended the Flood and Drought Symposium on 23 November 2015 at the United Nations Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference was a positive platform for participants to discuss methods and tools aimed at reducing the impacts of flood and drought events.
Together with the International Water Association (IWA) and the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII), DHI hosted the conference as part of the Flood and Drought Management Tools project. Dr Pichet Durongkaveroj, Thailand’s Minister of Science and Technology delivered the opening speech to an audience of international experts and major stakeholders in Thailand.
Thailand is currently experiencing the worst drought in decades. DHI and other stakeholders took the opportunity to present the use of advanced technologies as decision support systems and models for improving water resources planning within Thailand. The importance of the topic was affirmed by the attendance of all major organisations and media reporters in Thailand. The conference highlighted the need for advanced technologies for water resources planning, as climate variability and climate change increases its complexity.
DHI has worked for years in Thailand on flood forecasting projects together with HAII. The outcome of the Flood and Drought Management Tools project will result in new technologies for drought forecasting and management being made available to decision makers. The new technologies will be integrated into existing MIKE Powered by DHI tools and will include:
- the use of satellite-based and global information
- seamless weather forecasting capabilities across temporal and spatial scales
- linkage to hydrological models
- decision-making and planning methods
- dissemination and outreach tools
The Flood and Drought Symposium in Bangkok will be followed by similar events in the Lake Victoria and Volta basins in 2016.
About the Flood and Drought Management Tools project
The project aims to develop technologies used for integrating flood and drought events into existing planning methods, thereby improving the decisions makers’ ability to work within a changing climate. The project is being implemented from 2014 to 2018, and three pilot basins – Volta, Lake Victoria and Chao Phraya – have been identified for the development and testing of the technologies.
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The Flood and Drought Symposium 2015 was held at the United Nations Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.
© DHI
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