Despite more than 40 years of environmental management in the ASEANregion, degradation of the environment continues, affecting the mostvulnerable populations, a senior policy advisor for the Institute forGlobal Environment Strategies said on August 3 at a climate-change forumheld in Vientiane, Laos.
Dr Peter King said that climate changecontinued to be a massive threat to the region, while the rate of lossof biodiversity had slowed only a little.
Freshwater quality andquantity also continued to degrade in highly urbanised and industrialareas, though some progress had been made.
However, environmental governance has been poorly implemented, King said.
Whileenvironmental agencies have been created, laws enacted and variousenvironmental programme initiated, "too many actors continue todisregard the environment", he said. "A massive change in mindset isneeded for sustainable development," he added.
Speaking at theforum, Sokmao Chheang, a researcher at the Centre forDevelopment-Oriented Research in Agriculture and Livelihood Systems inCambodia, said information about innovation and new climate-changetechnologies should be provided to farmers in affected areas.
Irregular rainfall
He said his centre, with funding provided by the Thailand EnvironmentInstitute, conducted a study on how farmers in rain-fed ecosystems made aliving during irregular rainfall.
The study examined 360 farmerhouseholds in nine districts in the central province of Kampong Speu,the southern province of Kampot, and the southwestern province of Takeoin Cambodia.
Rainfall patterns during the past 15 years changedremarkably, with drought, flooding and irregular rainfall making farmingmuch more vulnerable, the study found.
Farmers facedinsufficient rainfall during the early part of the monsoon season,causing delays during the mid-monsoon season in August-October.
The consequence was that rice could not produce more stems, leading to low yields, he said.
LeThi Hoa Sen, Deputy Head of the Centre for Climate Change Study incentral Vietnam, said the effect of non-seasonal and heavy flooding inVietnam continued to affect small-scale farmers.
Increasingrainfall unpredictability, high input costs, high crop losses andrecovery from adverse climate events take away income for crops.Regenerated rice has the potential to enhance resilience to climatechange and generate a high-quality product with higher yields,increasing productivity and marketability, she said.
Sen said that a regenerated-rice farming model, used in a co-operative in Quang Binh province, had been successful.
After50-55 days of implementation, the households experienced a 5 percentproductivity increase, an overall cost reduction of 20 percent, anadditional income of 2.5 million VND per 100 ducks sold, and overallreduction of labour costs for cultivation.
Households andco-operatives also received technical training and were given packagingand processing roles for marketing products. Rice-storage facilitieswere also built.
More than 100 researchers, experts fromassociations, institutes, and universities in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia,China, Vietnam and Myanmar attended the forum.-VNA
Dr Peter King said that climate changecontinued to be a massive threat to the region, while the rate of lossof biodiversity had slowed only a little.
Freshwater quality andquantity also continued to degrade in highly urbanised and industrialareas, though some progress had been made.
However, environmental governance has been poorly implemented, King said.
Whileenvironmental agencies have been created, laws enacted and variousenvironmental programme initiated, "too many actors continue todisregard the environment", he said. "A massive change in mindset isneeded for sustainable development," he added.
Speaking at theforum, Sokmao Chheang, a researcher at the Centre forDevelopment-Oriented Research in Agriculture and Livelihood Systems inCambodia, said information about innovation and new climate-changetechnologies should be provided to farmers in affected areas.
Irregular rainfall
He said his centre, with funding provided by the Thailand EnvironmentInstitute, conducted a study on how farmers in rain-fed ecosystems made aliving during irregular rainfall.
The study examined 360 farmerhouseholds in nine districts in the central province of Kampong Speu,the southern province of Kampot, and the southwestern province of Takeoin Cambodia.
Rainfall patterns during the past 15 years changedremarkably, with drought, flooding and irregular rainfall making farmingmuch more vulnerable, the study found.
Farmers facedinsufficient rainfall during the early part of the monsoon season,causing delays during the mid-monsoon season in August-October.
The consequence was that rice could not produce more stems, leading to low yields, he said.
LeThi Hoa Sen, Deputy Head of the Centre for Climate Change Study incentral Vietnam, said the effect of non-seasonal and heavy flooding inVietnam continued to affect small-scale farmers.
Increasingrainfall unpredictability, high input costs, high crop losses andrecovery from adverse climate events take away income for crops.Regenerated rice has the potential to enhance resilience to climatechange and generate a high-quality product with higher yields,increasing productivity and marketability, she said.
Sen said that a regenerated-rice farming model, used in a co-operative in Quang Binh province, had been successful.
After50-55 days of implementation, the households experienced a 5 percentproductivity increase, an overall cost reduction of 20 percent, anadditional income of 2.5 million VND per 100 ducks sold, and overallreduction of labour costs for cultivation.
Households andco-operatives also received technical training and were given packagingand processing roles for marketing products. Rice-storage facilitieswere also built.
More than 100 researchers, experts fromassociations, institutes, and universities in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia,China, Vietnam and Myanmar attended the forum.-VNA
