Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has reviewed the progress of three disaster risk management projects in Laos, which have been implemented in five provinces around the country.
The three projects are: Integrated Disaster and Climate Risk Management (IDCRM) and Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) which were both implemented in Vientiane, Xieng Khuang, and Xayaboury, along with Effective Governance for Small-Scale Rural Infrastructure and Disaster Preparedness in a Changing Climate (LDCF2) which is being implemented in Saravan and Xekong provinces.
All projects have been implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and United Nations Development Programme Lao PDR (UNDP), aiming to reduce risks and make Laos more resistant to the effects of Climate Change as well as other natural disasters.
Disaster risk management and climate change are issues that Laos and other countries around the world have been encountering and trying to solve.
Laos is paying attention to implementation to cope with disaster management and climate change by cooperating with development partners, sponsors and other international organisations.
Progress of the projects was present ed at the Department of Disaster Management and Climate Change meeting on Tuesday.
In attendance was Acting Director General of Department of Disaster Management and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr Sangkhan Thiengthammavong; representative of UNDP in Laos, Mr Balasubramaniam Murali along with international organisation representatives. Project Manager of Disaster Management and Climate Change Mr Chanthy Intravong presented the IDCRM project which ran from June 2013 to December 2015 but the government has requested to extend it past the expiry date.
Its aim has been to strengthen the disaster risk management system, linking with effective recovery and climate change adaptation through a multi-sectorial and multi-hazard approach at all levels (national, provincial, district, and village).The key achievement of the IDCRM project was the establishment of the disaster management information system especially the Lao Disaster Information System (LaoDi) which was launched in September this year.
Meanwhile, the INDC Project running from March 2016 to September 2017 aims to identify and support implementation of Laos’ contributions to the post-2020 global climate agreement. It will also strengthen the nation’s engagement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation process leading to the post-2020 agreemen t. Key achievement of the INDC project was the preparation and presentation to the National Assembly of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change for ratification in August this year.
Laos ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and submitted its instrument of ratification to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his participation in the eighth ASEAN-UN Summit in Vientiane on September 7.
LDCF2 is also operational from May 2013 to December 2017, which aims to improve administrative systems for the provision and maintenance of small-scale infrastructure. Its major accomplishments have been the completion of 12 financed infrastructure projects in late 2015 benefitting 17,000 local people and mobilising grant funding for 12 new infrastructure projects to be implemented in 2017.
Source: Vientiane Times
