The Global Development Partnership Center(GDPC) at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements(KRIHS) held the joint workshop titled ‘2019 KOICA-UN ESCAP Fellowship Programme Capacity Building on Drought Monitoring and Early Warning’ for governmental officials from 6 Asia countries on September 23 (Mon) to 28 (Sat) in Bangkok, Thailand.

The capacity building programme is aimed at sharing Korea’s knowledge and experience in urban disaster prevention, GIS utilization, drought management, drought monitoring and early warning, and finding applicable measures to participants’ countries. It includes lectures of KRIHS and UN ESCAP experts, case studies of each country, action plan workshops and site visits. The programme was attended by 20 delegates from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Cambodia, the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Kyrgyzstan, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Laos, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vietnam, the State Committee on Forestry of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology in Myanmar. Also, Mr. Heunghwan Ahn from the Ministry of Interior and Safety in the Republic of Korea, Dr. Kwangya Lee from the Korea Rural Community Corporation and Dr. Sehoon Park and 4 experts from KRIHS participated in the programme.

Ms. Tiziana Bonapace, the director of UN ESCAP, the ICT and Disaster Deduction Division referred that the strengthened regional cooperation will be important because “drought knows no border.” Dr. Sehoon Park from KRIHS, GDPC mentioned this programme can provide an opportunity to study each country’s good practice, because participants are the best experts who know their countries’ actual needs. In addition, Ms. Jihyun Park from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bangkok expressed a gratitude to related persons from UN ESCAP, KOICA and KRIHS for their efforts to co-organize the capacity building programme.

At the country report session on the first day, each participant shared current situation of drought management and areas to be supported, followed by active discussion among participants and experts. Through this workshop, it is expected to establish joint measures to response to drought for Asia countries and the global network for disaster prevention among Korea and participant countries.