13.3.3

13.3.3 Co-operative planning for climate change disasters

Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) participates in co-operative planning for climate change disasters, working with government. Through the research programme “Innovation for Water Security: Research for Area Development and Integrated Water System Solutions”, funded by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), SWU works with provincial, district and local government in several provinces. In Phayao Province, under the project “Advancing Local Water Management Innovation in Phayao Based on the Phayao Flood – Drought Resilience City”, SWU researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Physical Education work with district offices, disaster prevention and mitigation agencies, local administrative organisations and communities in Phayao Province to plan for floods, flash floods and drought. In 2025 (B.E. 2568), the programme carried out co-operative planning for climate change disasters with government in Phayao Province (flood, flash-flood and drought planning, October 2025) and Nan Province (flash-flood early-warning planning, October 2025). This planning covered the displacement of people within the country during floods and flash floods, through local evacuation maps, evacuation points and evacuation routes prepared together with government agencies.

PHAYAO PROVINCE

1. Co-operation with government and expert agencies (23–27 October 2025)

23–24 October 2025 – Climate Change Data Center (CCDC) and Center of Excellence for Natural Disaster Management (CENDiM), Chiang Mai University: the SWU team exchanged knowledge on applying the FloodBoy flood-monitoring innovation to flood and flash-flood management in Phayao Province, to strengthen local capacity for disaster response.

27 October 2025 – Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre 15, Chiang Rai (Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation): the team met officers responsible for water-related disaster management in the upper north to obtain spatial data on past floods, flash floods and drought in Phayao, risk and vulnerable areas and future trends, together with the Centre’s manuals and guidelines for water-disaster management and prevention.

27 October 2025 – Phayao Provincial Administrative Organization: the team met the Deputy Chief Executive and the working team of the PAO’s Water Data Management Centre to coordinate co-operation in Phayao, and obtained data on the PAO’s early-warning technology and five years of flood and drought damage statistics. The co-operation aims to ensure that the research results are used in policy planning, crisis-response measures for water disasters, and the development of Phayao’s early-warning and water management systems.

Figure 1. Meeting with CCDC and CENDiM, Chiang Mai University, and a FloodBoy monitoring station (23–24 October 2025).

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

Figure 2. Meeting at the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre 15, Chiang Rai (27 October 2025).

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

Figure 3. Co-ordination meeting with the Phayao Provincial Administrative Organization and its Water Data Management Centre (27 October 2025).

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

2. Co-operative planning workshops at district offices (28–31 October 2025)

The team then held planning workshops at four district offices in Phayao Province:

• 28 October 2025 – Phu Kam Yao District Office

• 29 October 2025 – Mueang Phayao District Office

• 30 October 2025 – Pong District Office

• 31 October 2025 – Chun District Office

A total of 67 participants took part, including deputy district chiefs, mayors, engineering division officers, community leaders, and officers of the provincial and district disaster prevention and mitigation offices — front-line practitioners in water resource and disaster management. Together they carried out four activities: a SWOT analysis; a risk analysis of hazards, exposure, vulnerability and local capacity; the preparation of local evacuation maps and local flood, flash-flood and drought calendars; and the training “Living with Water: Understanding Floods and Drought in Phayao through Local Wisdom and Everyday Life”. The workshops combined government perspectives with local knowledge, and generated policy and practical recommendations.

Figure 4. Planning workshops with district officials, local administrative organisations, disaster prevention and mitigation officers and community leaders at four district offices in Phayao Province (28–31 October 2025).

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

3. Planning partners: government agencies and communities

The project’s cooperation mechanism links SWU’s knowledge and tools with government agencies at district, provincial and local levels, and with people in the communities:

• District level – Mueang Phayao, Phu Kam Yao, Chun and Pong districts: district officers, officers of the district disaster prevention and mitigation centres, engineering divisions, sub-district headmen and village headmen.

• Local administrative organisations – the Phayao Provincial Administrative Organization, subdistrict administrative organisations and municipalities.

• Regional disaster agency – the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre 15, Chiang Rai, which contributes the repeated-flooding map of Phayao Province. Together with the Phayao Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the Centre also trained participants on evacuation and co-designed the evacuation-point maps and response guidelines.

• Communities – 20 subdistricts across the four districts: Mae Na Ruea, Mae Ka, Mae Sai, Ban Tam and San Pa Muang (Mueang Phayao); Pong, Khuan, Oi, Ngim and Na Prang (Pong); Chun, Thung Ruang Thong, Hong Hin, Lo, Wiang Lo, Huai Khao Kam and Phra That Khing Kaeng (Chun); and Huai Kaeo, Dong Chen and Mae Ing (Phu Kam Yao).

Figure 5. Cooperation mechanism of the project: SWU knowledge and tools, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre 15, district agencies, local administrative organisations and communities in Phayao Province.

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

4. Planning outputs

Working with local officials and residents in each subdistrict, the project jointly prepared planning information for climate-related disasters:

• Local disaster and agricultural calendars, showing for each month when lake overflow, flash floods, drought and storms occur in relation to the rice-growing seasons;

• SWOT analyses of each subdistrict’s capacity to cope with floods and drought, including existing warning signals, support from disaster agencies and local organisations, and gaps;

• Climate disaster risk analysis for each area;

• Local evacuation maps showing flood areas from three sources — GISTDA satellite data on repeated flooding, the flash-flood risk areas of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, and flood areas reported by villagers — together with evacuation points and evacuation routes (example: Lo Subdistrict, Chun District).

Figure 6. Web map of flood areas, evacuation points and evacuation routes for Lo Subdistrict, Chun District, Phayao, combining data from GISTDA, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and villagers.

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

The risk maps and standard evacuation route plans produced with communities were then placed in the disaster prevention and mitigation plans of local administrative organisations, so that rescue teams and volunteers can reach people at the mapped locations during an emergency.

5. Flood early-warning technology for local agencies

Following the meeting with Chiang Mai University on 23–24 October 2025, the project is applying FloodBoy, a smart flood early-warning system developed by the Climate Change Data Center (CCDC), Chiang Mai University, in cooperation with the Center of Excellence for Natural Disaster Management (CENDiM), Chiang Mai University. FloodBoy uses a solar-powered radar sensor to measure water levels and sends data in real time to an online platform, so that people and agencies can monitor water levels together and receive timely warnings. Data are stored on a cloud database and a blockchain database and shared through an open API, supporting local disaster management.

Figure 7. The FloodBoy water-level monitoring device: solar panel, control board, radar water-level sensor and backup battery.

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

Figure 8. Data management architecture of the FloodBoy system.

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

NAN PROVINCE

6. Co-operative planning for a flash-flood early-warning network (27 October 2025)

In Nan Province, the programme’s research team worked with the Nan Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and subdistrict administrative organisations, including Rim, Tha Wang Pha, Nam Pua, Si Phum and Chai Watthana, to plan a community early-warning network for flash floods. A technology-transfer and mapping workshop was completed on 27 October 2025. In total, the Nan team worked with 20 subdistrict administrative organisations in four pilot districts: Mueang Nan, Tha Wang Pha, Pua and Wiang Sa.

The team presented a four-level flash-flood early-warning system (watch, prepare, prepare to evacuate, evacuate) that measures river water levels with automatic sensors and sends alerts by civil-band radio (78 MHz and 245 MHz), so that warnings can reach villages without mobile-phone coverage. Using a model of the warning network, disaster prevention officers and local government representatives discussed and jointly designed suitable locations for main stations, sub-stations and repeater stations in their own areas, combining technical knowledge with local experience.

Participants then mapped, on Google My Maps, the points in their subdistricts that repeatedly experience flash floods, the water routes from the mountains to communities, and the planned station locations. The resulting map serves as the base dataset for installing the flash-flood warning system in Nan Province and for future risk assessment and advance planning by local agencies. After the workshop, 12 local organisations were assessed as ready to start immediately, and Rim Subdistrict Administrative Organization was selected as the pilot site.

Figure 9. Model of the flash-flood early-warning network used to plan station locations with disaster prevention officers and local government in Nan Province.

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

Figure 10. Village early-warning map on Google My Maps, created jointly with disaster prevention officers and local government representatives.

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

Figure 11. Technology-transfer and mapping workshop with local government officers in Nan Province (October 2025).

Source: Activity report, Innovation for Water Security research programme, Srinakharinwirot University

7. Household emergency action plans with the Nan Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and 20 local governments

The team coordinated with the Nan Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and all 20 target subdistrict administrative organisations from the start of the work. Together they developed a household emergency action plan for flash floods and landslides, designed for the mountain areas of Nan and linked with existing warning systems. The plan was tested with real households together with disaster prevention officers, revised from their feedback, and then used to train officers from all 20 organisations, who extend the plan to households in their areas.

The team also held focus group discussions with local government practitioners from the four districts and invited the Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to take part, so that provincial policy and local operations could be planned together.

Source: Full report, Innovation for Water Security: Research for Area Development and Integrated Water System Solutions, Srinakharinwirot University, submitted to the National Research Council of Thailand

KHON KAEN PROVINCE

8. Co-operative planning for flash floods and drought with the Khon Kaen Irrigation Project (11–13 November 2025)

From 11 to 13 November 2025, the SWU research team held focus group discussions at four reservoirs in Khon Kaen Province: Huai Toei Reservoir (Mueang District) on 11 November, Huai Sai Reservoir (Ban Phai District) and Lalerng Wai Reservoir (Phon District) on 12 November, and Huai Yang Reservoir (Mancha Khiri District) on 13 November. The team worked with officers of the Khon Kaen Irrigation Project, an agricultural extension officer of the Khon Kaen Provincial Agricultural Office, and water user groups in all four areas, to understand local flash-flood and drought problems and to design innovations and activities to solve them together.

The discussions showed that water users are increasingly affected by drought, while the Irrigation Project lacks a tool to forecast rainfall inflow into the reservoirs, which delays warnings to households when heavy rain raises water levels. These findings shaped the joint plan to develop drought-resilient demonstration plots with the agricultural offices and a reservoir inflow forecasting program with the Irrigation Project.

Summary poster of focus groups at four reservoirs in Khon Kaen

Figure 12. Focus group discussions with the Khon Kaen Irrigation Project, the Provincial Agricultural Office and water user groups at four reservoirs, 11–13 November 2025.

Summary

In October 2025, SWU worked with the Phayao Provincial Administrative Organization, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre 15, four district offices, local administrative organisations and 20 subdistrict communities in Phayao Province to co-produce disaster calendars, risk analyses and evacuation maps, and to introduce flood early-warning technology, and worked with the Nan Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and subdistrict administrative organisations to plan a flash-flood early-warning network, supporting co-operative planning for climate change disasters with government. In November 2025, SWU also held co-operative planning for flash floods and drought with the Khon Kaen Irrigation Project, the Provincial Agricultural Office and water user groups at four reservoirs in Khon Kaen Province.

Local government: district offices, municipalities and subdistrict administrative organisations in four districts of Phayao, and 20 subdistrict administrative organisations in Nan.

Regional and provincial government: the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre 15, Chiang Rai; the Phayao and Nan Provincial Offices of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation; and the Phayao Provincial Administrative Organization. In Khon Kaen, the team planned together with the Khon Kaen Irrigation Project and the Khon Kaen Provincial Agricultural Office.