Agriculture in the Lancang–Mekong (LM) region is highly vulnerable to climate-induced floods and droughts. Recent events, including the 2019–2020 regional drought and the 2023–2024 El Niño episode, have significantly disrupted agricultural production, food security, and rural livelihoods across the region. These recurring climate shocks underscore the urgent need to strengthen practical climate risk management capacities at the local level.

Regional cooperation frameworks, particularly the Lancang–Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Five-Year Plan of Action (2023–2027), emphasize enhanced data sharing, joint disaster risk reduction, and human resource development. Under this framework, China has played a leading role in advancing cooperation on water resources, meteorology, and climate services. Despite the increasing availability of climate data and tools, however, a gap remains between high-level cooperation mechanisms and the operational capacity of local agricultural officers and extension workers to interpret and apply climate information in day-to-day decision-making.

This capacity development program, implemented by Mekong Institute (MI) and the Lancang–Mekong Water Resource Cooperation Center, with support from the Government of China, is designed to help bridge this gap. The program focuses on strengthening practical competencies in flood and drought risk management for agriculture, with a strong emphasis on Chinese-supported climate and meteorological tools and methodologies, complemented by selected international open-source platforms. It targets mid- and entry-level professionals who play a critical role in translating climate information into local agricultural planning and advisory actions.

This capacity-building program is implemented as a four-component, sequential learning and application cycle to ensure sustained institutional impact beyond the training.