THAILAND (9-11 DECEMBER 2011)

Last August to October this year, Thailand has witnessed severe floods in large area. At 21st Congress and 62nd IEC meeting held at Tehran, Iran, October 2011 this problem was discussed in detail. On the invitation of Mr. Chalit Damrongsak, Director General of the Royal Irrigation Department and Vice President Chaiwat Prechawit and their colleagues, President Gao visited Thailand and had the opportunity to visit some of the flood prone areas. VP Chaiwat Prechawit also joined the visit of five flood affected areas in Thailand. The severe flood has taken 680 person’s life, and about 712,000 ha of cultivated land were affected. It is estimated that this year rice production could be reduced by 25 to 30%.

The Royal Irrigation Department and THAICID presented a detail introduction on the recent flood and its damages, and the enormous efforts which they have undertaken to minimize the losses of property and life. On behalf of ICID family, President Gao expressed his sympathy to the Government and people of Thailand through Royal Irrigation Department and THAICID for the heavy losses induced by the devastating flood.

With all these difficulties THAICID actively participated in 21st Congress and 62nd IEC meeting held at Tehran. This shows the commitment of THAICID towards ICID and its activities. President was very much pleased to know that some of our latest publications are translated in Thai language for wider dissemination.

President Gao took this opportunity to invite Mr. Chalit Damrongsak, Director General of the Royal Irrigation Department to attend our next 63rd IEC meeting and make a presentation to share their experience, knowledge, solutions and the lessons which they learnt from the flood fighting this year.

MALI (29 NOVEMBER - 5 DECEMBER 2011)

The 3rd African Regional Conference of ICID was held in Bamako Mali from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5. The theme of this conference was Food Security and Climate Change: Improve the Contribution of Irrigation and Drainage. More than 200 participants from 25 countries attended the conference, including the representatives from the World Bank, FAO, IFPRI, IWMI and African Development Bank. Dr. Gao Zhanyi, the President of ICID and Mr. Adama Sangare, Vice President of ICID attended the conference.

Mr. Abou Sow, Minister delegate for Integrated Development Office du Niger of Mali attended the opening ceremony and made a speech with the highlight of importance to develop irrigated area in Mali to increase food production for food security and poverty alleviation in Mali. Mr. Agatham Ag Alassane, Minister of Agriculture attended and addressed the closing ceremony. Minister Agthon expressed his thanks to ICID and all participants for attending the conference and sharing the experience, knowledge and information on food security and climate change. He also gave a detailed introduction on the vision of Mali Government for development of irrigation in the country.   

The participants actively involved in the conference providing high quality presentations, questions, comments and suggestions. The topics of the sessions nearly covered all issues related to food security, like development of irrigation and drainage including policy, technical, social, economic and investment, management, environmental and climate change issues. The good news is that in the African Region actions to enhance irrigation development do take place. There are many successful examples and pilots schemes demonstrating increasing water and land use efficiency and productivity.

A special session was conducted in this conference for presenting the preparation of input for the Theme 2.2 of the 6th WWF, Contribute to Food Security by Optimal Use of Water. Group discussion was organized with the active involvement of the participants and many solutions were proposed for the African region. To continue the work, a Committee for Solutions in African is being set up with representative from ICID, FAO, the World Bank, IFPRI and African regional organizations.

Taking this opportunity President Gao invited the participants from African region to attend ICID future events and conferences to share experience, knowledge and information. Several countries in the region have shown their interests to join ICID as active members and follow up actions will be taken.

ICID President Dr. Gao Zhanyi expressed his sincere thanks to the Government of the Republic of Mali, Ministry of Agriculture, Mali National Committee of ICID, and members of the Organizing Committee of the conference, and Vice President Adama Sangare and all the professionals and volunteers for organizing a successful conference in Mali.