Building Thailand’s capacity to combine conventional engineering and nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer practical ways to reduce flood impacts while enhancing ecosystem resilience. For an organisation like Thailand’s Royal Irrigation Department (RID), integrating NbS with traditional infrastructure can strengthen long-term flood management, support water security and deliver broader environmental and social benefits. 

WSCA team members are working with RID to embed climate-resilient, inclusive NbS into RID’s core irrigation and flood management practice. 

Supported by the Australian Water Partnership, the project is using ‘training by design’ with a cohort of trainers. This Training-of-Trainers (ToT) approach is building a skilled internal team within RID who can plan and implement hybrid NbS-grey infrastructure across diverse Thai contexts. The aim is to address climate and water challenges (e.g. flooding, groups, falling water quality) that threaten agricultural production, livelihoods and community wellbeing, particularly for vulnerable groups – women, people with disabilities and other marginalised groups. 

The training comprises a series of workshops where participants progress from learning about inclusive NbS and seeing examples in practice to applying concepts to increasingly complex real-world situations in Thailand. 

ToT workshop 1 welcomed RID participants and a researcher from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) to Melbourne for 5 days of training:

• 2 days of training at Monash University provided a strong grounding in climate-resilient water management, flood mitigation and inclusive hybrid NbS infrastructure design. Each session integrated GEDSI (gender equality, disability and social inclusion) by reflecting approaches to stakeholder input and engagement. A dedicated session on inclusion and stakeholder engagement was structured as a co-learning session to understand what works and what doesn’t around current consultation approaches, and what action could be taken for a more inclusive approach. 
• 3 days of guided visits gave delegates opportunities to see how ecosystem-based approaches are embedded in real-world infrastructure.

For ToT workshop 2, WSCA team members and a GEDSI expert joined RID participants and KMITL researchers at the Irrigation Development Institute in Bangkok for another 5 days of training. 

Participants worked in groups to apply inclusive NbS principles and concepts to 2 local sites: 

• Landscape improvement in Chaiyaphum – transforming an earthen mound within the future inundation area of the Lam Nam Chi Reservoir into a small, elevated island and pilot NbS site. 
• Weir replacement in Uthai Thani – replacing and enhancing the efficiency of Pak Mueang Weir, a critical diversion structure in the Thap Salao irrigation system. 

The concepts and designs developed by each group embedded GEDSI principles and climate resilience, including monitoring, evaluation and learning considerations. Presentations about designs and concepts gave each group the opportunity to provide and receive feedback. 

Participants also toured Bangkok sites that show how blue–green infrastructure can transform dense urban sites into multifunctional NbS assets e.g. Chulalongkorn University’s Centenary Park and Chong Nonsi Canal Park.

For ToT workshop 3, WSCA team members joined RID participants and researchers from KMITL and Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai.

The final workshop was an immersive design studio based on the Kok River and RID’s nearby irrigation channel. Participants explored using NbS (such as floating and constructed wetlands, sedimentation ponds and biochar wetland treatment systems) to reduce heavy metals from the Kok River. 

In groups, participants developed concept designs that addressed the environmental and social issues affecting the area, working through site constraints, treatment options, technical details and community needs. A key feature of the workshop was ensuring designs met all objectives, including GEDSI objectives.