1. Adaptation to climate change in Laos:
A review of activities conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Guillaume Lacombe, Dalaphone Sihanath, Anousith Keophoxay, Somphasith Douangsavanh, Paul Pavelic
I will give you an overview of the projects that IWMI is conducting in Laos in the field of climate change.
Mobilizing Science for climate change, agriculture and food security: engaging the media in Lao PDR, Apr 2015, Vansana Hotel, Vientiane, Lao PDR

2. Floods and drought - manifestation of water resources variability
TOO LITTLE…
…TOO MUCH
The main impact of climate change on water resources is an increase in variability with more extreme events like droughts and floods. At the same time, populations are becoming more vulnerable to this variability. With more people and greater demand for land, people are forced to settle down in flood-prone and drought-prone areas. There is a need to store water in order to use it when it is needed.

3. Water storage continuum
Different types of water storage exist, either artificial or natural. In the context of CC adaptation, we focus on small artificial reservoirs and groundwater with the aim to help smallholder farmers to access reliable water resources. The advantage of groundwater is that it is available throughout the year and nearly everywhere in lowland areas. However, where groundwater is not easily available, ponds and tanks can provide water resources at the farm level.
Source: McCartney and Smakhtin 2010

4. Livelihoods from agricultural dug wells in Vientiane province
Rising well numbers in B. Ekxang
In the Vientiane Plain, shallow wells are dug by farmers to access groundwater. There are easy to dig and they are operated with cheap pumps. As shown on the graph, their number has been rising drastically in the last few years. There are used to irrigate water melon during the dry season. The income from this cash crop is good and illustrates how groundwater is beneficial. In these lowland areas, IWMI is developing technologies and strategies that enable the expansion of groundwater use for irrigation.
Incomes from watermelon farming
Season
Number of fruits sold
Expenditures in million Kip
Revenue in million Kip
Profit gained in million Kip
2014
5,000
3.8
35*
31.2
2015
6,600 6 25 19

5. Projects: CCAFS flagship 1 (climate-smart agriculture practices)
1.1: Integrated technologies and practices
To enhance capacity to adapt to CC through the development of technologies
1.3: Upscaling technologies
To promote and disseminate those technologies from village to national levels
In 2015, IWMI is involved in two new projects, part of CCAFS. They focus on small villages in the provinces of Vientiane and Savannakhet.
The first project, entitled « integrated technologies and practices » will develop various technologies that should help farmers adapting to climate change. These technologies aim to increase farm productivity, food security and income generation.
The second project will bring the technologies from the first project to different scales. This project comprises 3 different dimensions of scaling.
1) First, we will test different methods to dissemination technologies tested in one village to the other villages in the same district;
2) Second, we will engage with various stakeholders and build capacities for wider dissemination at the provincial level;
3) Finally, we will select successful practices that can be disseminated across the countries of the Lower Mekong Basin.
These scaling processes will be facilitated through participatory approaches with farmers.

6. Example: roof-top rainwater harvesting
Storing rainwater for small-scale irrigation in the context of:
Increased rainfall variability (inter-seasonal and inter-annual)
Greater food demand (dry season)
Increased scarcity and degraded quality of alternative water resources
A water-smart technology
Limitation of GHG emissions,
Integrative technology
Now, I will give you one example of climate-smart technology that IWMI plan to test. As explained before, groundwater is a reliable water resource for irrigation. However, in some areas, access to this water resource is limited: groundwater is too deep or contaminated by salinity or other pollutions like arsenic. Surface water from river may be to small during the dry season or too far away. In this critical situation, a small on-farm water storage can be beneficial. Such structure is primarily used for domestic needs but can also be used to irrigate small vegetable gardens for the own consumption of the household. The areas where such devices are the most beneficial are often remote and likely correspond to the poorest part of the population.

7. Rooftop rainwater harvesting
Successful in Thailand or Vietnam but still in its infancy in Laos
While this kind of structure remains limited in Laos, it already proved to be successful in some part of Thailand or Vietnam. We can mention the “Rainwater Jar Programme”. Several million jars and tanks were constructed in the 1980s in Northeast Thailand. The programme involved a broad range of stakeholders, including households, communities, NGOs, universities and the private sector with support from the government. In the Mekong Detla in Vietnam, groundwater is polluted or too saline. Can Tho University is conducting a project to see how to develop this type of system and how to ensure good water quality.
Rainwater harvesting systems have several advantages: women and children can benefit first, it requires minimal traveling time. There is no pumping cost if the system is designed correctly, which also means no emission of greehouse gases. The quality of water is potentialy good as it comes directly from the rain. The system is easy to construct and there is no negative environmental impacts.
The Thai Rainwater Jar Programme
Northern Vietnam and Mekong Delta

8. Several constrains require optimal design:
Poverty of populations, cost of infrastructures,
Lack of legislation, education, information,
Problems of contamination (roof, tank, mosquitos, bacteria)
Availability of materials
Need to design technology based on goals and needs
To map potential across Mekong Basin
To determine optimal storage volume of the tank depending on:
Cost, water demand, objectives of vegetable production
To provide support/capacity building
To achieve our objectives, some constraints need to be accounted: we need first to assess where are the real demand and needs across the country. What financial investments are available?
To answer these questions:
- we will map the potential of rainwater harvesting depending on the proximity of other water resources, the availability of construction material, the engagement of extension services to provide technical support,
- We will determine what are the optimal dimensions of the tank, based on the size of the roof, the cost of equipment material, the water demand, the rainfall pattern,
We aim to provide a simple tool to help farmers designing their own rainwater harvesting system based on their situation and needs.

9. Thank you for your attention…
To end my presentation, these pictures illustrate the surrounding landscape of Ban Phailom which is one of the CSV where we are focusing our research. In that village, the water table is too deep to allow irrigation. Farmers clearly expressed a demand for developing rain water harvesting to allow small-scale vegetable gardenning.
Ban Phailom, Savannakhet Province
January 2015