Scientists from the IIASA Water Security (WAT) Research Group will conduct a water resource management model-training workshop for experts from Southeast Asian countries, supported by the Economy & Environment Partnership for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA).

mekong river © Digitalpress | Dreamstime.com

This three-day workshop (running October 12, 14, and 21) is organized in the context of a cooperation between EEPSEA, the Environment for Development Center (EfD-Vietnam), and IIASA (WAT Research Group). The virtual workshop will strengthen participants’ knowledge of the development and use of models and systems analysis approaches to better understand current and future issues surrounding water resource management under climate change involving climate, hydrological, and economic modeling tools. The workshop will involve a mixture of presentations and practical ‘hands-on’ sessions with selected models to contextualize the work in the Southeast Asian region and its specific circumstances.

Learning objectives:

  • Participants will sufficiently understand the processes involved in interdisciplinary research on water resources management under climate change involving climate, hydrological, and economic modeling tools.
  • Participants will have a basic/theoretical understanding of climate and hydrological modeling and hands-on hydro-economic modeling experience.
  • Participants will have an understanding of an interdisciplinary research proposal to evaluate water resources issues under climate change.
  • Participants will have a basic/theoretical understanding of hydrological modeling with the Community Water Model (CWatM), hands-on experience in hydro-economic modeling, and use a basic setting for the Mekong River.
model © IIASA

Modeling activities:

  1. The Community Water Model (CWATM) is an open source model that examines how future water demand will evolve in response to socioeconomic change and how water availability will change in response to climate. The model enables the assessment of water supply and human and environmental water demands at both global and regional levels, and is the first step towards developing an integrated modeling framework that will be able to provide vital information to decision- and policymakers.
     
  2. The Global Hydro-Economic Model (ECHO) is a bottom-up system analysis framework that can be used to develop integrated, long-term planning strategies for the water system. It can be used to inform the design of cost-effective and sustainable water policy decisions and to address the impacts of future changing socioeconomic and climatic conditions on water systems.
     
  3. Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ v4). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and IIASA have cooperated over several decades to develop and implement the Agro-Ecological Zones modeling framework and associated databases, which rely on well-established land evaluation principles to assess natural resources for finding suitable agricultural land utilization options. The framework identifies resource limitations and opportunities based on plant eco-physiological characteristics, climatic and edaphic requirements of crops, and it uses these to evaluate suitability and production potentials for individual crop types under specific input and management conditions. 

COOPERATING PARTNERS

 

IIASA WAT Research Group

IIASA WAT Research Group provides the scientific foundation needed to address the quest for water security across scales. Furthermore, it serves to bridge science-policy-practice gaps related to water management by leading global efforts on integrating assessment of water resources and exploring transformation pathways towards a water secure future. 

 

EEPSEA

EEPSEA was developed from the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia and serves as a regional platform for transdisciplinary research to address global environmental challenges. EEPSEA conducts multidisciplinary research that gives the environment its due value and provides training courses on the use of economic tools and techniques in analyzing environmental issues. The partnership engages researchers from different disciplines, decision makers, and communities towards sustainable development in Southeast Asia. 

 

EfD-Vietnam

EfD-Vietnam contributes to sustainable development in Vietnam by implementing high quality research and promoting evidence-based policy in environmental and resource management. It contributes to alleviating poverty and highlighting the gender perspective. EfD-Vietnam is administered by EEPSEA at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH).