Mekong River Commission Research Articles

Reservoir Assessment Tool version 3.0: a scalable and user-friendly software platform to mobilize the global water management community

Abstract. In the modern world, dams and the artificial reservoirs behind them serve the increasing demand for water across diverse needs such as agriculture, energy production, and drinking water. As dams continue to proliferate, monitoring water availability influenced by reservoir operations is now of paramount importance. The Reservoir Assessment Tool (RAT) is a data-driven software platform that integrates satellite remote sensing with hydrological models, enabling the estimation of key reservoir parameters such as inflow, outflow, surface area, evaporation, and storage changes. The earliest version of RAT (version 1.0) was set up for 1598 reservoirs around the world with limitations in functional robustness, updating frequency, and scalability. Some of these limitations on updating frequency and functional robustness were addressed in version 2.0 that was later made operational for the intergovernmental agency of the Mekong River Commission. Recognizing the need for scalability to mobilize the global water management community to benefit from satellite remote sensing, we hereby introduce RAT version 3.0. This version is optimized for accelerating open collaboration among users for continuous improvement and customization of RAT to enable reservoir management breakthroughs. RAT 3.0 represents a wholesale overhaul from the previous versions to empower the global community of users and developers in the spirit of the open-source movement. RAT 3.0 allows reservoir monitoring advancements and new functional developments that can be freely exchanged and seamlessly integrated for continuous evolution of the software. A centralized web application has also been established to facilitate the storage and dissemination of global reservoir monitoring information along with comprehensive training resources. RAT 3.0 aspires to bridge the traditional practices of water management community with the capabilities of satellite remote sensing. The global impact of the software can be expected to increase as uptake spreads, enabling a more sustainable and equitable utilization of our planet's water resources.

Inclusive governance of hydropower on shared rivers? Toward an international legal geography of the Lower Mekong basin

Hydropower is now the largest source of renewable energy worldwide. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that current hydropower capacity will need to double by 2050 in order to transition to net zero and to arrest the rise of global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Much of the currently built and planned dams are on rivers shared between two or more countries. This raises the risk of increased inter-state conflicts. However, to exploit hydropower peacefully, the impact on local communities must also be considered. This foregrounds the need to build inclusive institutions that can mediate the different interests, norms, and values held by communities located across different scales. The article examines the role of international river basin organizations to manage this legal pluralism in shared river basins. In many basins globally, such as the Lower Mekong, the Columbia, the Zambezi, or the Senegal, international river basin organizations are tasked with the development of shared water resources. To understand to what extent river basin organizations can mediate the legal pluralism in a shared basin, the article develops an international legal geography approach to the governance of transboundary waters in an attempt to uncover marginalization and disempowerment in the process of law-making. It therefore expands the analytical scope of legal geography to the study of transnational spaces, in this case complex ecosystems for which there are no fixed jurisdictional boundaries. It then applies this approach to the case study of the Lower Mekong basin. Findings indicate that the Mekong River Commission, despite attempts to include project-affected people in decision-making, largely operates within a Westphalian framework of sovereignty to the detriment of more inclusive forms of governance. Project affected communities are largely unable to exert influence and are relegated to participation in alternative forums. These forums, or counter publics as Yong called them, are disconnected from official processes. While they give rise to marginalized voices and enable the creation of inclusive and participatory spaces, the exclusionary official decision-making processes continue to produce significant tension and conflict potential as hydropower is championed globally as a clean, climate friendly form of energy. As hydropower is set to double by 2050, inclusive participatory institutions in basins worldwide must be built to navigate complex stakeholder interests and to benefit those who are otherwise likely to lose out in net zero transitions. These findings are relevant for other shared basins, particularly across Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America where hydropower is booming. An international approach to legal geography can foreground these hidden and marginalized voices and help identify ways to build inclusive institutions for the governance of shared resources.

Gender Perspectives on Food Security

Many effortsin water supply,energy as well as food security development in Southeast Asia are connectedand have regionaldimensions since they rely on transboundary river basins like the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMRB). Especially when itcomes to food security and proper nutrition, the Mekong River is a central source of living. Mekong riparian states faced nearly 15 million malnutrition cases from 2019 to 2021. Approximately, 60 per cent of the undernourished are female. Since regional food security issues are closely related to water management and regional security issues in its member countries, this paper analyses food security in relation to the Mekong River Commission as a central interregional organisation for sustainable development within the LMRB.

Frequency and trend analyses of annual peak discharges in the Lower Mekong Basin

The effectiveness of annual peak discharges under the anthropogenic impact and climate change has significance for disaster management and planning. Therefore, an attempt has been made to study the trend of annual maximum series (AMS) discharges and flood frequency in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB). The AMS data of five stations in the LMB were procured from the Mekong River Commission for analyses of trends of the AMS and flood frequency. The Mann-Kendall test showed a significant decrease in the magnitude of annual peak floods for all the discharge gauging sites in the LMB. Likewise, the analysis of the annual discharge departure from the mean reveals noteworthy variations and departure (positive and negative) in the annual peak discharges. The goodness-of-fit (GoF) tests showed that Log-Pearson Type-III (LP-III) is the best distribution for AMS of the Mekong River than Gumbel Extreme Value Type-I (GEVI). Therefore, predicted discharges for different return periods and predicted recurrence intervals for average annual discharges (Qm), large floods (Qlf), and maximum annual peak discharge during the recording period (Qmax) by LP-III are trustworthy. The flood frequency curve specified that all the observed discharges were fairly on the best-fitted line and falls between upper and lower confidence limits. Inclusively, the results of the trend in annual peak discharges and flood frequency are consistent and can be used for water management, controlling flood disasters, and flood planning in the LMB.

Comparative assessment of water quality classification techniques in the largest north-western river of Cambodia (Sangker River-Tonle Sap Basin)

The lack of adequate and good water quality is one of the serious issues that most developing countries are facing, yet environmental monitoring programs are not efficiently protecting ecosystem health. Here, we aimed to assess the suitability of different water quality assessment frameworks in order to define the most suitable method, especially for data-scarce environments, to quantify river ecosystem health. The study was conducted in the largest north-western river of Cambodia, the Sangker River in the Tonle Sap Lake (TSL) basin (UNESCO Biosphere Reserve). Five water quality assessment methods were selected for the study: Basic & Single Prati indices, Mekong River Commission water quality index (MRC-WQI), French water quality assessment system (SEQ-EAU) and US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) framework. Overall, a physico-chemical gradient of water quality was observed along the river course. The river head was defined by high levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), low nutrients and chloride, while the middle course was marked by a gradual decrease of DO and increased concentration of nutrients up to the TSL floodplains. This degradation was explained by multiple impacts from human activities, e.g. domestic wastes, livestock, crop farming, causing simultaneous eutrophication and oxygen depletion along the river course. Despite those multiple pressures, the Sangker river health status was scored as fairly good reflecting the current situation of the river. So far, we found a convergence of the five water quality assessment methods; however, SEQ-EAU and Basic Prati seemed to be less suitable for tropical river health assessment. The study defined the US-EPA assessment method as the most suitable technique to quantify the Sangker river health. This method could potentially be used to monitor river ecosystem health in data-scarce environments. This would help overcome environmental monitoring challenges in developing countries faced by rapid global environmental changes.

Determination of Basic Wind Speed for the Design of Buildings in Cambodia

Basic wind speed is a very essential parameter used for conversion into wind loads on building structures. In Cambodia, the information on basic wind speed remains uncertain due to insufficient fundamental studies on the wind characteristics associated with regional climatic conditions. The aim of this paper is to assess and discuss the basic wind speeds for structural wind-resistant design in Cambodia by using statistical and probabilistic approaches. The datasets have been collected from National Centers for Environmental Information datasets, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under World Meteorological Organization, and Mekong River Commission in forms of hourly wind speeds. The hourly wind speeds were then statically converted to 3-second gusts speeds using Gaussian Distribution Transformation. The extreme value distributions namely, Gumbel and Gringorten were used to analyze the extreme speed in accordance with a return period. The results showed that with a return period of 10 to 1000 years, the basic wind speed varies from a minimum of 22m/s to a maximum of 53m/s, respectively. These results provided a new aspect over traditionally uncertain basic wind speed selection and can be an alternative for the estimation of wind loads for the design of building structures in Cambodia.

Collective Actions and Challenges Analysis on Management of the Mekong River as Common Pool Resources

The countries of the Indochinese peninsula think that the Mekong River is a shared resource that must be managed through cooperation between countries. However, because many countries exploit the resources in the Mekong River, it triggers an increase in environmental degradation. This phenomenon has prompted the establishment of the 1995 Mekong Agreement and the Mekong River Commission (MRC) which aims to agree on cooperation in sustainable development, conservation, and management of resources in river areas. However, as an upstream country, China did not want to join the Mekong River Commission. In fact, China initiated a new collaboration called the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Mechanism (LMCM) in 2016. In the concrete, China has implemented a mega dam construction project which is considered to be a contributor to environmental degradation. By utilizing Garret Hardin's (1968) views on the tragedy of the commons, this paper analyses the challenges, collective actions and efforts of countries in the Mekong River region in overcoming river management and the sources of the tragedy of the commons. Through several characteristics in the management of shared resources by Ostrom (1990) this paper finds that arrangements for shared resources are important to be systematically arranged by the government to prevent the tragedy of the commons. Institutions at the local level are very important to be able to develop appropriate institutional structures that are adapted to the social and economic life of the people along the Mekong River.

Changes in the spatial-temporal of the amount of sediment suspended in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam

Sediment depletion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) has brought threats to riverbed and riverbank dynamics. The main objective of this research is to make a relationship between turbidity and suspended sediment concentration (SSCs) and to assess temporal-spatial variations of SSCs in the VMD. In this regard, the SSCs were measured and monitored along the Tien and Hau Rivers under the Japan-ASEAN Science, Technology, and Innovation Platform (JASTIP) project and Mekong River Commission (MRC). Particularly, we installed three monitoring stations in main rivers and conducted two field surveys to collect data for assessing SSC values in the VMD. The results show that the SSCs in the delta are changeable seasonally with high values in the high-flow season and low values in the low-flow season. The Tien and Hau Rivers can be divided into two reaches. The upper reach has high SSC, decreasing seaward, whereas the lower reach has lower SSC, increasing seaward.

Assessing the International Multi-Hazard Disaster Risk Governance in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region

The Mekong River Basin faces various interconnected hazards caused by climate risks and human development activities such as rapid hydropower dam construction that may increase disaster risks to downstream countries. Given its multi-hazards and transboundary impacts, it is imperative to create effective, regional-level disaster risk governance across the Mekong Sub-Region’s countries. There are several established cooperation frameworks in the region including the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC). However, the effectiveness of the regional platforms in governing disasters in the region remains to be understudied, especially in the context of addressing cascading, multihazard risks in the Mekong River Basin. Hence, this paper aims to assess the regional capacity and effectiveness as a regional platform for addressing multihazard and transboundary disaster risks. This paper will utilize a qualitative research method, including desk review and content analysis of relevant literature and policies. For the analytical approach, the paper will also examine how the region employs soft-political collaboration through the International Regime theory. By incorporating perspectives of disaster risk governance and international cooperation issues in the Mekong region, this interdisciplinary study provides a novel angle for the DRR field. Findings from this study are also expected to contribute to achieving the SFDRR Target F of enhancing international cooperation in DRR.

Towards relational geometries of public participation and hydropower governance in the Lower Mekong River Basin

The Lao People's Democratic Republic's aspirations to become the ‘battery’ of Southeast Asia has involved plans for a cascade of hydropower dams on the mainstream of the transboundary Mekong River. This has triggered the unprecedented undertaking of public stakeholder consultations under the Mekong River Commission's Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA). This paper focuses on PNPCA stakeholder consultations organized in Thailand and Cambodia, and seeks to understand how these stakeholder consultations, despite their merits in information sharing, have come to be criticized by civil society as a ‘rubber stamp’ for ‘participation’ in Lao hydropower development. Building upon the literature on public participation in development, critical hydropolitics, and stakeholder engagement in Mekong water governance, we seek to conceptualize a critical politics of public participation by adopting a relational approach towards identifying the key challenges relating to participation. We suggest that a relational approach must consider how the interrelations between the multiple formal and informal tracks of stakeholder engagement shape one another and overall opportunities for participation, and how power relations within these spaces impact on perceptions towards public participation. Distrust towards state-organized participatory spaces can be traced from the state-organized participatory spaces to another key interrelation: the power relations between state and nonstate actors in the multi-scalar political spaces that extend beyond participatory spaces. This paper examines how anti-participatory forces pose a challenge to the emergence of both state and nonstate participatory spaces, providing additional insights into the state-society dynamics that influence environmental outcomes around large-scale infrastructural development.

Epistemic community in transboundary river regime: a case study in the Mekong River Commission regarding mainstream hydropower development.

Despite the importance of transboundary water management, cooperation mechanisms are limited, especially in the case of Mekong River basin where environmental and social aspects are threatened by recent anthropogenic pressures like hydropower development. Existing transboundary mechanism such as the Mekong River Commission (MRC) is challenged to facilitate the cooperation between riparian states. An epistemic community (EC) is considered to effectively influence international governance and is studied as part of transboundary river regimes. The existence of an MRC EC is part of that regime but understanding about its characteristics is yet limited. This research aims to fill in the gap by unraveling the main features of the EC in relation to hydropower development. We analyze shared causal beliefs and policy goals that developed in the EC framework of Haas applying literature review and semi-structured interviews of experts. Results show that the community experts share causal beliefs and policy goals only to a limited extent while disagreeing on many aspects. It resembles a "disciplined" or "professional" group rather than an EC. This suggests that the knowledge factor has not gained proper influence and attention in the region, resulting in incoherent policy advice leading to policymakers developing policies based on incomplete and fragmented knowledge. The role of the MRC in the decision-making process could become more relevant if it would facilitate the development of an EC. Bringing key stakeholders including policymakers and experts into a platform where policy goals and causal beliefs are facilitated to reach possible consensus is recommended. Narrowing the science-policy gap while acknowledging differences in interests and policy objectives is crucial to reach a sustainable transboundary management of the Mekong River given its rapid development, especially on hydropower.

Transboundary environmental publics and hydropower governance in the Mekong River Basin: A contested politics of place, scale and temporality

AbstractThis study proposes a conceptualisation of transboundary environmental publics (TEPs) to interrogate the distinctive pathways through which contestations over public participation and ‘stakeholder engagement’ in transboundary environmental governance have emerged. While much attention has been paid to how the discourse and practices of public participation have been co‐opted by powerful actors to serve vested interests, fewer studies have questioned how the contingent and fragmented nature of ‘publics’ entangled with a politics of representation have contributed towards the failings of public participation. This paper examines how state and nonstate TEPs have emerged as multi‐dimensional, material and discursive entities within hybrid hydropower governance arrangements in the Mekong River Basin. Public participation in relation to hydropower dams on the Mekong River's mainstream is intertwined with the contingent formation of TEPs through the Mekong River Commission's Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA). Contestations over public participation may be understood by examining the specific ways in which 1) ‘publics’ were assembled, 2) notions of ‘place’ were interpreted, 3) scalar constructions were influenced by centre‐periphery power dynamics and 4) temporality was defined. To understand how this convening of ‘publics’ fundamentally influences the potential for meaningful public participation, this paper contrasts the TEPs formed through the PNPCA and the Save the Mekong Coalition (STMC), a transnational activism network. The STMC TEP provided reimaginations of scalar constructions and broadened definitions of publics, places, and temporality in participation, reflecting how the topographical and discursive practices that underlie the creation of TEPs have important implications for their legitimacy and effectiveness in influencing decision making.

A comparative review of decision support tools routinely used by selected transboundary River Basin Organisations

As human pressures on water resources increase, the data and decision support (DS) tools used in the governance, development and management of transboundary rivers are likely to become increasingly important. There are no universal, standardised selection processes or designs for these tools, and so it is up to individual River Basin Organisations (RBOs) to decide what to include in their capacities. This desktop study provides a broad comparative analysis of the suites of DS numerical modelling tools developed and utilised by five intergovernmental transboundary RBOs that advise their member states in the management of their shared water resources: the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission; the Orange-Senqu River Commission; the Nile Basin Initiative; the Zambezi Watercourse Commission; and the Mekong River Commission. These DS tools were reviewed against the information required to enable the kinds of comprehensive assessments of proposed basin management and development plans defined in their respective agreements, which include not only hydrological parameters, but also environmental and social considerations. A review of the model development timelines showed that prior to 2000, little capacity existed in modelling of hydrological, ecosystem, and social components of the river, but that these gaps have been addressed in recent years.

The dangers of the construction of hydroelectric dams upstream of the Mekong River adversely effect on the ecosystems and livelihoods of people in the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

The main purpose of the article is with the results of scientific and serious research to let the world know the enormous harm of upstream hydroelectric dams, mainly of China, causing huge, multifaceted, and global damage. impact on the downstream area, but especially on the Mekong Delta of Vietnam: "Wetland" will become "dead land" The development of hydro-electric projects of the up-stream Mekong countries has been and will be inevitable and greatly impact on the down-stream areas, in which the Mekong Delta is suffering a lot of losses., especially, for Viet Nam.. The Processes have been happening at the same time: The process of depleting water, for agriculture, for industry, for daily life and people's livelihoods. The processes at the same time, the effects that resonate with the process of climate change cause great harm. The drought has accelerated the acidification process, because the potential drought of acid sulfate soil (1,700,000 ha) will become intense, damaging the ecosystem and human livelihoods..The drought due to the construction of hydroelectric dams upstream (especially Lan Thuong river, China) makes the process of salinization with saline intrusion fierce (seawater 4 gr/L) Many, penetrating into the interior fields more than 100KM, the harm is extremely great. If want to reduce the harm, the Mekong River Commission must ask the upstream countries to share it with the downstream

What Governance Lesson Does Mekong Bear for Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) Basin?

This article talks of the various governance lessons that the Mekong basin bears for the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) basin. It highlights the existing hydropolitical and ecological problems associated with the GBM basin, the reasons for which are attributed to the reductionist colonial engineering paradigm also delineated in this article as ‘arithmetic hydrology’. The transboundary interactions in the GBM to resolve the problems have largely relied on an issue-based, piecemeal, fragmented approach that has further complicated the problems. It is in this context, the article brings in how a cooperative mechanism in the institutional form of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has been attempting to promote a participative and integrated approach to river basin governance. The article, therefore, talks of some of the replicable practices and learnings that may help in takeaways for the GBM riparians and stakeholders from the Mekong system. JEL Codes: F02, N50, Q01, Q22, Q24, Q25, Q28

Land Use and Land Cover Changes and Its Impact on Soil Erosion in Stung Sangkae Catchment of Cambodia

Agricultural expansion and urban development without proper soil erosion control measures have become major environmental problems in Cambodia. Due to a high population growth rate and increased economic activities, land use and land cover (LULC) changes will cause environmental disturbances, particularly soil erosion. This research aimed to estimate total amounts of soil loss using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. LULC maps of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) 2002 and Mekong River Commission (MRC) 2015 were used to evaluate the impact of LULC on soil erosion loss in Stung Sangkae catchment. LULC dynamics for the study periods in Stung Sangkae catchment showed that the catchment experienced a rapid conversion of forests to paddy rice fields and other croplands. The results indicated that the average soil loss from the catchment was 3.1 and 7.6 t/ha/y for the 2002 and 2015 periods, respectively. The estimated total soil loss in the 2002 and 2015 periods was 1.9 million t/y and 4.5 million t/y, respectively. The soil erosion was accelerated by steep slopes combined with the high velocity and erosivity of stormwater runoff. The spatial distribution of soil loss showed that the highest value (14.3 to 62.9 t/ha/y) was recorded in the central, southwestern and upland parts of the catchment. It is recommended that priority should be given to erosion hot spot areas, and appropriate soil and water conservation practices should be adopted to restore degraded lands.

HEGEMONI TIONGKOK ATAS SUNGAI MEKONG DAN PENGARUHNYA TERHADAP NEGARA DI BAGIAN HILIR: KAMBOJA, LAOS, THAILAND, VIETNAM

Mekong region is a geopolitical hotspot, reflecting conflict of interests between riparian countries (China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia) which influence forms of complexity, perspectives and perceptions that lead to tension and conflict. Composition of forces within the Mekong refers to geographical positions that determine strategic positions. China as an upstream riparian country has a more dominant bargaining position. In trying to understand phenomenon of China hegemony, qualitative method as an approach is used through literature study. China hegemony reflects in construction of dams, formation of LMC (Lancang-Mekong Cooperation) and rejection of the MRC (Mekong River Commission).

Analysis on the Transboundary Impact Assessment System and Practice of Hydropower Development on the Main Mekong River

The relevant documents and regulations on procedures and contents of transboundary impact assessment issued by the Mekong River Commission are combed. Combining with analysis of existing practice, experience and shortcomings of transboundary impact assessment in hydropower development on the main Mekong River is discussed. The results show that the transboundary impact assessment procedure of the Mekong River Commission is gradually improving. What’s more, the management mode of transboundary impact has gradually changed from paying attention to the prior evaluation to the whole process management. But there is no universal assessment standard for the transboundary impact, and the comprehensive assessment of the transboundary impact caused by hydropower development is lacked.

Explaining China’s Lancang-Mekong cooperation as an institutional balancing strategy: dragon guarding the water

ABSTRACT This article examines the China-led Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) as an institutional balancing strategy against the external pressures from other existing mechanisms, such as the US-Mekong Partnership (UMP), the Mekong-River Commission (MRC), and the Mekong-Japan Cooperation (MJC). In contrast to another China-led multilateral initiative (i.e. the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), the LMC has received significantly less attention by the media, scholars, and state actors, as the LMC is limited to five states in Southeast Asia that are often not viewed as major players in world politics. Because our main focus is examining the institutional competition that exists in the Mekong, we explain this competition in the region, with China’s LMC being our main focus. By drawing on the concept of institutional balancing, we explain both why China is doing this and the pattern of great powers that are engaged in institutional competition in the Mekong. The article’s findings indicate that China has yet to achieve its balancing objective, as most LMC members are not willing to exclusively side with China.

A Risk-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach to Evaluating Transboundary Water Development—The Case of Lower Mekong River Basin

The Lower Mekong River basin (LMB) covers the lower part of the Mekong river basin, including Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Due to numerous pressures from high population growth and intensive hydropower development, the LMB has been facing significant challenges concerning its biodiversity and ecosystem. In 2017, Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1995 among LMB countries, established the Council Study, which analysed the impacts of water development scenarios concerning the environmental, socioeconomic aspects of the LMB. This paper explores the nature of risks to the LMB water development and subsequently evaluates LMB’s water development scenarios described in the Council Study by using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method. MCDA method has been widely applied in the field of water resource management in order to assist the decision-making process by systematically evaluating a certain number of alternatives against well-selected criteria through a preference rating scheme. By implementing a risk-based comprehensive assessment of the LMB transboundary water, this study provides insights into the impacts of the increasing risks to the ecosystem and human beings on the water development of the basin over time, which assists to change the awareness and the perspective toward humans’ risks and transboundary river ecosystem of decision-makers. This paper provides valuable recommendations for MRC to improve their policy concerning benefit-sharing scheme, water planning and risk mitigation strategies.