Climate Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity of Nan Highland Communities

Thai highlands are characterized by high heterogeneity in vertical and horizontal planes in terms of microclimate, geographical, and socio-economic factors that determine the nature of agriculture practised and livelihoods. Highland agriculture is rapidly changing as commercial farming and plantations are being introduced with detrimental impacts on local ecosystems. Due to the fragile nature of mountain ecosystems, there is a need to preserve the traditional and low-input agriculture systems. Shallow soils, and depletion of nutrients due to runoff and leaching make them poor in fertility. Due to physical isolation, access to markets is often challenging and long-distance transportation contributes to high marketing costs. Empowerment of local governments is an important first step in building the capacities of local communities in Thai highlands. The local governments should be provided with the necessary capacity, both technical and financial, to be able to implement a locally developed adaptation agenda/plan in consultation with various stakeholders. Some important considerations for enhancing local adaptive capacity include enhancing income resilience through livelihood diversification, promoting multi-stakeholder engagement in implementing the adaptation agenda at the local level especially keeping in view the resilience needs of local communities, ensuring equity and justice elements through addressing the concerns of marginalized and vulnerable communities including gender considerations, and putting in place a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework to track local adaptation in line with national adaptation goals.