Vientiane, Lao PDR, 18 December 2015—The French government today committed 1 million euro to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to strengthen its Mekong hydro-meteorological network, a near-real time river monitoring system for flood and drought forecasting.

The new funding made through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is to support the expansion of the Mekong-Hydro Meteorological Cycle Observation System (Mekong-HYCOS) for more accurate flood and drought forecasting, and the application of its analytical hydrological data for other areas such as fisheries, agriculture and navigation.

“This grant will enable the MRC to continue to serve the Member Countries to provide timely meteorological data that is critical for flood and drought forecasting,” said Dr. Truong Hong Tien, Officer-in-Charge of MRC Secretariat. 

The new funding is a follow-up to another grant of 3 million euro from France for the first phase of the hydro-meteorological network project (2007-2012). During the first phase, the MRC established the Mekong-HYCOS with a network of 49 hydro-meteorological stations along the Mekong and its tributaries to collect near-real time data of water level and rainfall in every 15 minutes and share them through the MRC database in Phnom Penh with the Member Countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam for their own flood forecasting and river monitoring networks. The data have been used by other users as well.

During the second phase of 2016-2017, the MRC plans to expand the network with eight additional stations along the mainstream and to improve the understanding of river dynamics and the application of data for other areas of water resources management.

France has been one of the key development partners of the MRC. It has granted so far about US$ 6.3 million for various projects.

 

Note to editors:

The MRC is the inter-governmental organisation established to promote regional cooperation and facilitate dialogue on the sustainable management of the Mekong River Basin. Its members include Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The commission looks across all sectors including fisheries, agriculture, navigation, flood and drought management, environment, climate change and hydrology.

 

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