Strengthening Thailand's Agricultural drought Resilience

干旱影响世界各地的生活和生计，特别是在那些对极端事件的复原力有限的地区。在东南亚(海洋)，气候和土地利用变化、人口增加和发展带来的压力影响了水资源，甚至在被认为是该区域较富裕国家之一的泰国也是如此。泰国最近发生的一些干旱事件影响了粮食供应、能源生产和更广泛的经济，突显了该国的脆弱性。农业部门受缺水的影响尤其严重，更好地了解泰国的干旱情况将有助于采取缓解行动，提高复原力和生活质量。由于缺乏从农业利益攸关方收集的一致的水文气象数据集和影响数据，这种对干旱指标与影响之间联系的认识受到限制。STAR项目将通过以下目标满足这些研究需求：1)让利益攸关方提供信息并共同设计干旱监测做法，确保项目期间和项目后的合作；2)根据利益攸关方的需要，为泰国制定新的干旱监测和表征指标；3)增进对干旱对农业的影响的了解，并评估案例研究流域的适应能力；4)通过更好地通报干旱风险和相关影响，提高抗旱能力。国家旱灾评估的目标是提高泰国所有国家的抗旱能力，但有些活动将在集水区范围内开展。平河流域是具有重要战略意义的湄南河的一条主要支流，因其在农业部门的重要性和易受干旱影响而被确定。在泰国和更广泛的海域内，这些方法很可能是可扩展的。该项目分为四个工作包(WP)，每一个都有利益攸关方的参与：WP1将确定那些主要负责干旱管理和沟通的人。PingSTAR网络是坪集水区内不同利益攸关方的合作，将启动并贯穿整个项目期间和以后。WP2将评估泰国的干旱灾害，利用并共同开发一系列水文气象指标数据集，以识别和描述干旱，这是STAR的一项主要遗产，将根据Pwthways to Impact进行传播。WP3将在平集水区内开展工作，以更好地了解和量化干旱的农业和社会经济影响。通过结合社会网络分析、整理现有资料来源和在实地与农民进行访谈，将对影响的丰富记录进行数据库和分析。最后，WP4将在国家和集水尺度之间架起一座桥梁，在泰国和东南亚更广泛地评估这种方法的可扩充性之前，通过在平集水区的案例研究确定干旱指标与影响之间的关系。将开发可视化工具，使利益攸关方能够更好地了解干旱指标与影响之间的联系，与国家和区域利益攸关方举办能力建设、知识共享讲习班，将巩固追回被盗资产项目的研究成果，并考虑如何更广泛地应用所制定的办法，以提高抗旱能力。

Droughts impact lives and livelihoods around the world, particularly in those regions with limited resilience to extreme events. In South-East Asia (SEA), pressures from climate and land use change, increasing populations and development impact water resources, even in Thailand which is considered to be one of the wealthier countries in the region. A number of recent drought events in Thailand have impacted food supplies, energy production and the wider economy, underlining the vulnerability of the country. The agricultural sector is particularly affected by water shortages and a better understanding of drought in Thailand would underpin mitigation actions that improve resilience and livelihoods.Drought monitoring can improve preparedness and management, and whilst drought information provided through existing operational services provides a useful tool for water managers, there is limited understanding of how these indices relate to impacts. This appreciation of the links between drought indicators and impacts is limited by the availability of both consistent hydrometeorological datasets and impacts data collected from agricultural stakeholders. An improved understanding of this indicator-impact link would enhance the management and communication of drought, increase resilience and reduce vulnerability.The STAR project will address these research needs through the following objectives: 1) engage stakeholders in informing and co-designing drought monitoring practices, ensuring collaboration during and post project; 2) develop new drought monitoring and characterisation indicators for Thailand based on stakeholders' needs; 3) improve understanding of drought impacts on agriculture and assess adaptive capacity in a case study catchment; 4) increase drought resilience and capacity through better communication of drought risks and associated impacts.STAR aims to enhance resilience to drought for all of Thailand although some activities will take place within a catchment-based context. The Ping catchment is a major tributary of the strategically important Chao Phraya river, identified for its importance within the agricultural sector and vulnerability to drought. Approaches are likely to be scalable within Thailand and the SEA region more generally. The project is structured in four Work packages (WPs), with stakeholder engagement embedded in each of them: WP1 will identify those principally responsible for drought management and communication. The PingSTAR Network, a collaboration of diverse stakeholders within the Ping catchment, will be initiated and run through the duration of the project and beyond. WP2 will assess the drought hazard in Thailand, utilising and co-developing a range of hydrometeorological indicator datasets for drought identification and characterisation, a major legacy of STAR that will be disseminated as per the Pwthways to Impact. WP3 will work within the Ping catchment to better understand and quantify the agricultural and socioeconomic impacts of drought. Through a combination of social network analysis, collating existing sources and undertaking interviews in the field with farmers, a rich record of impacts will be databased and analysed. Finally, WP4 will bridge the national and catchment scales, establishing the relationship between drought indicators and impacts through a case study in the Ping catchment before assessing the scalability of such approaches more widely in Thailand and South-East Asia. Visualisation tools will be developed to allow stakeholders to better understand the link between drought indicators and impacts, and a capacity-building, knowledge-sharing workshop with national and regional stakeholders will consolidate the research outcomes of the STAR project and consider how the developed approaches could be applied more widely for enhanced drought resilience.