Climate Change is being felt increasingly by communities across Laos; with more than two-thirds living in rural areas and many relying on subsistence living, they are especially susceptible to increasing climate shocks, and depend on climate sensitive ecosystems for their livelihoods. As a landlocked and ecologically diverse nation, Laos has witnessed an unprecedented surge in tropical storm damage, landslides and pests, as well as a shift in wet/dry seasons and the accompanying severity of droughts and floods.

CARE Laos has been actively implementing climate resilience programing for more than 5 years. CARE works jointly with governments, communities and civil society partners to address the many intersecting elements of climate change to best support communities through transformative adaptation and innovative mitigation practices.

CARE Laos recently completed the EU funded project, Northern Uplands – Promoting Climate Resilience (NU-PCR, 2015-2018) in Phongsaly Province, which saw concrete changes in the lives of local ethnic communities and strengthened the capacity of government authorities to improve livelihood resilience to climate change and disasters in the province. CARE Laos also worked with partners in Sekong Province to scale up Community Based Disaster Risk Management Programming from 2016-2017. CARE is currently implementing the Agro-Climate Information for the Adoption of Resilient Farming Practices by Women and Ethnic Minority Farmers (ACIS) project (2018-2021) in Phongsaly province. The ACIS project enables women and ethnic minority farmers to anticipate and respond to risks and opportunities from changes in the weather, through participatory and equitable agro-climate information services and improvement of women’s agency, farmers’ long-term planning, and division of labor through a gender equitable shared workload.

Additionally, CARE Laos works with partners and local communities to establish lasting solutions to climate change in the region, through the development of gender responsive, community centered interventions and climate adaptation strategies. Working with Laos’ most marginalized communities, particularly remote ethnic women, is a core CARE value, and necessary in addressing the pervasive impacts of climate change.