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The training organized by the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology of the the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

For the first time, the Climate and Agro-meteorology Division (CAmD) of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) is hosting an international advanced training event that is receiving participants from meteorological offices from the neighborhood countries of Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. 

A collaboration between two international projects has allowed organizing the important training that will improve climate modelling capacity, give visibility and empower the staff of the DMH and of other countries from the 7^th until the 9^th of May 2019. The first organizing project is the “Strengthening Agro-climatic Monitoring and Information Systems (SAMIS) to improve adaptation to climate change and food security in Lao PDR” (that is available online at the web page http://www.fao.org/in-action/samis/en/) managed by FAO and financed by GEF is hosting the training. The second regional project that is supporting the participation of trainers and National Hydro-Meteorological Services from abroad is the “Applying seasonal climate forecasting and innovative insurance solutions to climate risk management in the agriculture sector in SE Asia” otherwise known as De-RISK SE Asia. The project, implemented by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) together with International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is financed by the International Climate Initiative of German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (IKI-BMU) and the project web page is https://bit.ly/2J5rJxr

For Lao PDR, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) of MONRE and the National Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) will be trained in advanced methodologies for seasonal forecasts and climate modelling. The trainers will include experts from USQ in Australia.

In the same framework, the SAMIS project that is about to launch the online system and mobile phone app called Laos Climate Service for Agriculture (LaCSA) that will distribute weather and crop information to farmers on near real-time. The LaCSA system will be first presented on the 7^th of May 2019 at the Monsoon Forum, organized simultaneously by DMH with the participation of experts from the EPINET company of the Seoul National University of South Korea that have developed the modelling and IT part of the system.

The LaCSA system, one of the most innovative systems in Asia, will be launched at the end of May 2019 and will enable farmers to have more stable production in the face of climate vagaries, to improve food security and to sustainably increase the production in Lao PDR. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) is contributing to the distribution of information to farmers at local level. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Department of Agricultural Land Management will start using the online tool for the next rice season in the five provinces, including Luang Namtha, Savannakhet, Vientiane Province, Saravan and Champasak.