Mekong River Commission Research Articles

New evidence of brown glaze stoneware kilns along the East Road from Angkor

New evidence of brown glaze stoneware kilns along the East Road from Angkor

Building drought management capacity in the Mekong River basin

AbstractOver the past decades the Mekong River basin has experienced several droughts, the most recent of which occurred in the hydrological year 2004/2005. Impacts extended across agriculture, forestry, water resources, supply, industry, transport and the environment. In early 2006, the Mekong River Commission Secretariat initiated close consultations with the MRC member states Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, aiming at the formulation of a common Drought Management Programme, which would enhance the existing drought management capacity and ensure effective support. This paper draws attention to the programme formulation process. It shows how national capacity needs were assessed and synthesized into a basin‐wide capacity development programme. The paper concludes that in the context of international waters enhancing cooperation and capacity in drought management requires a strategic framework as an overall guideline for programme formulation and implementation. It defines a common terminology, mechanisms and linkages to integrated water resources management plans. The programme's long‐term success depends on the ability to sustain the interest of the national partner institutions. Ultimately, enhanced capacity in drought management must demonstrate its impact on the level of vulnerability of the population living under drought‐prone conditions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Vietnam's Security Objectives in Mekong Basin Governance

The paper examines Vietnam's foreign policy as it translates into strategies toward subregional cooperation in the Mekong Basin. Using transboundary water cooperation as an example, the article argues that Vietnam's prime motivation in Mekong River cooperation is economic development for performance legitimacy. Environmental issues are raised, but only in relation to powerful upstream countries, while Vietnam itself poses similar challenges to less powerful downstream countries. The need for performance legitimacy thus conveys all relevance to the economically oriented Greater Mekong Subregion, while the Mekong River Commission, a basin organization with a mandate to combine economic development with environmental considerations, is sidelined.

Mapping wetlands in the Lower Mekong Basin for wetland resource and conservation management using Landsat ETM images and field survey data

The Mekong River Basin is considered to be the second most species rich river basin in the world. The 795,000 km 2 catchment encompasses several ecoregions, incorporating biodiverse and productive wetland systems. Eighty percent of the rapidly expanding population of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB), made up in part by Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam, live in rural areas and are heavily reliant on wetland resources. As the populations of Cambodia and Lao PDR will double in the next 20 years, pressure on natural resources and particularly wetlands can only increase. For development planning, resource and conservation management to incorporate wetland issues, information on the distribution and character of Mekong wetlands is essential. The existing but outdated wetland maps were compiled from secondary landuse–landcover data, have limited coverage, poor thematic accuracy and no meta-data. Therefore the Mekong River Commission (MRC) undertook to produce new wetland coverage for the LMB. As resources, funding and regional capacity are limited, it was determined that the method applied should use existing facilities, be easily adaptable, and replicable locally. For the product to be useful it must be accepted by local governments and decision makers. The results must be of acceptable accuracy (>75%) and the methodology should be relatively understandable to non-experts. In the first stage of this exercise, field survey was conducted at five pilot sites covering a range of typical wetland habitats (MRC wetland classification) to supply data for a supervised classification of Landsat ETM images from the existing MRC archive. Images were analysed using ERDAS IMAGINE and applying Maximum Likelihood Classification. Field data were reserved to apply formal accuracy assessment to the final wetland habitat maps, with resulting accuracy ranging from 77 to 94%. The maps produced are now in use at a Provincial and National level in three countries for resource and conservation planning and management applications, including designation of a Ramsar wetland site of international importance.

Interstate negotiation mechanisms for cooperation in the Mekong river basin

China, an upstream state and a regional hegemon in the Mekong River Basin, is commonly viewed as unilaterally exploiting water resources, irrespective of downstream states (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia). This view is derived mainly from China's unilateral exploitation of the upper watershed for hydroelectricity and navigation, raising concerns about negative socio‐ecological impacts on the downstream states. However, recent empirical evidence shows that China is gradually getting involved in negotiations and processes with the downstream states, compromising with them little by little. Indications of this policy shift include: (a) its signing agreements for hydrological data exchange, (b) confidence‐building with co‐riparians in the Dialogue Meeting of the Mekong River Commission, and (c) multinational negotiation with co‐riparians in framework of regional institutions. In light of this shift, this article argues that China is not fully enjoying its superior resources or its superior riparian position, contrary to the common view. The aim of this paper is to (1) explain and provide updated information on these negotiation mechanisms, which are attempting to resolve the upstream‐downstream dispute in the Mekong River Basin, and (2) produce counterevidence against the Theory of Hegemonic Cooperation.

Early warning and flood forecasting for large rivers with the lower Mekong as example

An early warning system is a set of procedures designed to protect human lives and minimize damages to be expected from a flood which exceeds a certain critical level. It consists of a number of related and connected parts: forecasting, transformation of the forecast into a warning, transmission of the warning to local decision makers, conversion of the warning into remedial action (UN/ISDR, 2004). Each of these components must work efficiently for a successful early warning system. In developing countries such a system is of particular importance for saving human lives. The components of an early warning system will be described first, and details will be given for designing a data based flood forecasting model, using the lower Mekong as example. The example draws on the Flood Mitigation and Management Strategy of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) for the lower Mekong countries.

Perceptions, data, and river management: Lessons from the Mekong River

Workshops to identify transboundary and basin‐wide environmental issues and a diagnostic study by consultants identified priority environmental concerns of resource managers in the lower Mekong River basin. The issues identified, in priority order, were water quality, reduction in dry season flows, sedimentation, fisheries decline, wetland degradation, and flooding. An analysis of the available data found no evidence that water quality was poor except in the delta, where nutrient levels were high and increasing. Dry season flows have not decreased, and in the immediate future they are more likely to increase. Suspended sediment levels in the river are not high, and there is no indication that sediment loads are substantially increasing. Fish catch per unit effort has declined over the past decades, as have catches of large fish, but total fish catch has increased. Flooding does not appear to have increased in frequency or extent. There is no reliable quantitative information available on changes in wetland extent or condition, although it is reasonable to assume that both have declined. Reasons for the mismatch between perceptions and the data may include a failure by management agencies to analyze and publish data and provide adequate responses to issues raised in the popular press. This results from a lack of capacity in many government agencies and the Mekong River Commission, where there are high staff turnover rates and a dependence on short‐term experts with limited experience in the basin.

The Mekong from satellite imagery: A quick look at a large river

Physical datasets on rivers, thousands of kilometres long, can be efficiently and rapidly acquired through satellite imagery. As large rivers commonly cross several tectonic and climatic zones, their channels are composed of a number of units, each with characteristic morphology and behaviour. Separating a large river into such units provides a framework for understanding the geomorphology of the river concerned, allowing acquisition of information for environmental impact analysis and river management. About 2500 km of the Mekong River, from the China border to the sea, has been examined with SPOT satellite images with a selection of MODIS and IKONOS scenes in support. Hydrological data of the Mekong River Commission, hydrographic maps of the Commission, and field observations have been used to verify and extend the findings from the satellite imagery. The technique provides a rapid and holistic conceptualisation of forms and functions along the derived eight-unit classification of the Mekong River. Such a framework is valuable for (1) determining selected aspects of the geomorphological behaviour of a large river system, (2) rapidly analysing project-related environmental impacts, and (3) examining the geological evolution of the river. Investigating large rivers is difficult and resource consuming, but satellite imagery provides an easy and rapid tool. The cost of the images, however, may be high as a number of them are required for this type of analysis.

Governing Water as a Common Good in the Mekong River Basin: issues of scale

Transboundary water governance has received special attention in the wake of the World Bank vice-president Ismail Serageldin’s famous prediction in 1995 that, “if the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water”. The water wars scenario ensures that in the world’s more than 260 river basins that flow across national boundaries, primary attention is given to managing water as an international commons. A framework for such transboundary management has been in place more or less continuously in the Mekong for half a century, and it would appear that water has indeed been a force for cooperation even when brutal conflict has torn at the region.
 
 Despite the appearance of successful basin-scale management, inter-governmental management of water as an international commons in a transboundary river basin context can also hide some troubling ways in which water as a commons is eroded in the process of development. This paper considers common property dimensions of water and the livelihood systems that they support at multiple scales within the Mekong. It goes on to look at ways in which these are impacted upon by bureaucratisation, infrastructure and commodification processes. Ironically, basin organisations can both enhance and undermine governance for the common good, depending on how they deal with commonality of interest in freshwater at various scales. The paper draws on brief case studies of current trends in water governance including river basin organisations in the Mekong (the Mekong River Commission and River Basin Committees at national levels), of infrastructure (Thailand’s proposed Water Grid and Laos’ Nam Theun 2 dam) and of commodified notions of water (as a development resource and as a scarce commodity to be managed through market mechanisms).

FAO Regional Technical Expert Workshop on aquatic biodiversity, its nutritional composition, and human consumption in rice-based systems

The FAO Regional Technical Expert Workshop on aquatic biodiversity, its nutrient composition, and human consumption in rice-based systems was convened at the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand, 8–10 December 2004. The aim of the meeting was to bring nutritionists, fishery resource managers and development agencies together to discuss the various aspects of aquatic biodiversity and nutrition in rice-based farming with a view to establishing baseline information, identifying information gaps, and ultimately formulating recommendations for integrated development activities. The meeting concluded that the available information on composition of aquatic species and their consumption is limited, and sometimes inadequate. Local information sources on composition and consumption need to be identified and incorporated into current rice-based ecosystem biodiversity databases. The use of existing networks for information exchange and strategic partnerships was emphasized. Household consumption studies linking aquatic biodiversity from rice-based ecosystems and nutrition need to be done in the region. Methods need to improve, however, and a step-wise combination of techniques appears to be the most promising approach. It is necessary to develop aquatic resource profiles to guide the selection of key species which must be linked to specific seasons and habitats. Financial resources need to be identified and strategic partnerships made to plan and implement studies that will advance our knowledge on aquatic biodiversity in rice-based ecosystems, the way it is used by rural people, and its impact on their nutrition. The Workshop was attended by 25 participants including regional participants (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam), resource persons (Mekong River Commission (MRC), WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF), Institute of Aquaculture—Stirling University, European Union), the FAO Technical Secretariat and support staff. In the section that follows this report are the abstracts of presentations given during the Workshop.

Estimation of supplementary water to paddy fields in the lower Mekong River basin during the dry season

Efficient management of water resources in paddy fields requires an understanding of the volume of supplementary water used. However, quantifying the volume is laborious due to the large amount of data that must be collected and analyzed. The purpose of our study was to estimate the volume of supplementary water used in paddy fields, based on several years of available statistical data, and to provide information on how much water can be supplied to paddy fields in each target area. In this study, the lower Mekong River basin of northeast Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia was selected as the study area. In the first step, we used agricultural statistics for each country, rainfall data acquired from the Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRCS), and the value of virtual water required per unit of rice production. Because several years of data were used for dry season harvested areas and rice production in each country, the supplementary water to paddy fields in each province was calculated using virtual water and rainfall. This method made it possible to estimate changes in supplementary water in each province. Through this study, the supplementary water to paddy fields during the dry season in three countries was approximated from the minimum number of data sets. Moreover, for cases in which it is not possible to procure agricultural water use data for a hydrological model simulation, an alternative solution is proposed.

Sino‑ Thai Strategic Economic Development in the Greater Mekong Subregion (1992– 2003)

Introduction The Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Zone (GMS), so-called hexagonal economic was initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 1992. According to the subregional economic zone concept, the GMS is categorized into a type of joint development of natural resources and infrastructure. (1) It began under the concept of cooperation in the subset of the countries that the Mekong River flows past: Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China. Though a successful GMS would lead to economic development in the subregion, progress of the GMS projects has been very slow. Thus far, the GMS Ministerial Conferences have been held at least 12 times. The most recent one was held in Dali, Yurman Province, China in September 2003. In November 2002, the first GMS Summit was held before the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, reflecting the fact that the member-states now bestow stronger representational importance to GMS projects. However, it is obvious that the 1997 Asian financial crisis retarded progress. Consequently, most GMS projects have not materialized, especially priority projects in the land transport sector. Within the GMS framework, Thailand and Yunnan province of China have attempted to play a leading role in pushing many GMS projects, especially economic cooperation in the North-South economic corridor linking Yunnan province and northern Thailand via Laos or Myanmar. Despite facing various obstacles, China and Thailand have agreed to assist Laos and Myanmar implement the land transport projects. At present, water transport on the Mekong River from China (Simao port) to Thailand (Chiang Saen port) is possible. After China, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos signed the navigation agreement, commercial navigation opened officially in June 2001. (2) In addition, there is a plan to construct a railway from Singapore to Kunming, which will facilitate much more trade transactions and the flow of peoples in the subregion in the future. This article provides an overview of the Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Zone, and elaborates the concept of the GMS economic corridor. Additionally, the article discusses China's and Thailand's national development strategies within the GMS. Included is an analysis of Sino-Thai cooperative projects in transport linkages. Lastly, the article mentions obstacles to Sino-Thai strategic economic development within the GMS. An Overview of the Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Zone Although the history of cooperation in the Mekong basin can be traced back to the establishment of the Mekong Committee (the present Mekong River Commission) in 1957, and other subsequent Mekong-concerned organizations, it has been suggested that the most comprehensive mechanism of Mekong subregional development at the present time is the ADB-initiated GMS programme, designed to serve the interests of the participating countries toward greater economic cooperation, facilitating subregional trade and investment, subregional development opportunities, and resolution of transborder issues. According to the ADB, the GMS comprises approximately 250 million people with an overall gross domestic product of about US$190 billion. (3) In the post-Cold War era, peace in the Mekong subregion and the GMS member-states' transition to the market-based economic systems have supported the strengthening of the sub-region's economic cooperation. Even though the GMS members were formally rivals, their willingness to open up their economies at present paves the way for subregional economic cooperation. It was inevitable that the end of the Cold War brought dramatic change in Southeast Asian international relations: the former centrally planned economies such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been reforming their economic systems as China had done in Deng Xiaoping's era (1978-97). …

Negotiating local livelihoods: Scales of conflict in the Se San River Basin

Abstract: The Se San is an important tributary river basin of the Mekong. In 1993, Vietnam began building the Yali Falls Dam 80 kilometres upstream of the point at which this westward flowing river enters Cambodia. Ninety indigenous communities along the Se San River in two provinces of north‐eastern Cambodia have been impacted severely by flooding, and a dramatically altered hydrological regime that affects fisheries and all other aspects of livelihood, such as river bank agriculture. Since 2000, when the first turbines were commissioned, the affected communities have been increasingly vocal regarding the impacts of Yali and the plans for several more dams on upper reaches of the river. A complex set of actors including non‐governmental organisations, village, district and provincial authorities, national committees in Cambodia and Vietnam, the Mekong River Commission and a range of international players have become involved in a two‐track process, which has nevertheless allowed little space for negotiation over the Se San River on the part of those most directly affected. This case has fundamental implications for governance and conflict management in the Mekong and more widely. The Australian Mekong Resource Centre has been working with local actors to document the Se San case as part of an international project on River Basin Management: a negotiated approach, in support of six cases that involve up‐scaling of grassroots river basin initiatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In this article, we illustrate the significance of and problematise negotiation as a socially and politically embedded conflict management principle, with reference to the Se San case.

Current Topics on the Mekong River Commission

Current Topics on the Mekong River Commission

Hydrological roles of the Cambodian floodplain of the Mekong River

The purpose of this study was to assess the hydrological roles of the Cambodian floodplain of the Mekong River, from Kompong Cham as far south as the Vietnam border. An intensive observation of water levels at 20 locations, discharge measurements by ADP and ADCP in the main/floodplain channels and analysis of satellite images (RADARSAT) to estimate inundated area and storage volume, were carried out during the flood and post flood season in 2002. A hydro‐hydraulic model was set up for the entire study area to establish a tool for assistance in understanding the dynamics of recurrent floods as well as the hydrological roles of the floodplain in Cambodia. The model system used was MIKE11, a generalized one‐dimensional model system for rivers and estuaries. The hydraulic modeling work enabled us to assess the hydrological roles of the study area. The flood reduction amount in the peak flood season and river flow augmentation in the dry season were determined as part of the study. The main findings are of importance to floodplain management, as future construction for example for improved road levees and higher agricultural dykes, may reduce the benefits presently derived from flows over the floodplains. The work was carried out under the MRC (Mekong River Commission) Project named Consolidation of hydro‐meteorological data and multi‐functional hydrological roles of Tonle Sap Lake and its vicinities.

The contribution of scientific information to the conservation and management of freshwater biodiversity in tropical Asia

Tropical Asia (i.e. the Oriental biogeographic region) is the most densely populated and degraded region on Earth with the highest deforestation rates in the tropics. Flow regulation is a significant threat to riverine biodiversity in the region, and its impacts are combined with overharvesting, pollution and other sources of habitat degradation. In addition to these immediate threats, the potential impacts of exotic species and climate change are difficult to predict. Uncertainty about impact effects arises also from the fact that knowledge of the rich freshwater biodiversity of tropical Asia is incomplete, and up-to-date national or regional inventories are lacking. In part, this reflects taxonomic constraints, and a limited representation of Asian science in the international limnological and conservation literature. A survey of recent (1992–2001) international journals dealing with freshwater ecology and limnology in general, on one hand, and conservation biology on the other, reveal that the representation of scientists based in tropical Asia was extremely low. Scientists from tropical Asia authored fewer than 2% of more than 4500 papers dealing with freshwater biology; 57% of them were published in Hydrobiologia. Less than 0.1% of freshwater biology papers dealt with the conservation of biodiversity in tropical Asian fresh waters. The representation of Asian freshwater science in the conservation biology literature was also poor; 0.6% of 1880 papers surveyed. Such limited dissemination of information reflects a variety of constraints (e.g. manpower, funding, language, and entrenched attitudes), arising from sources both within and outside the region. Even the data that are published are not effectively deployed toward conservation ends. Awareness of some of the more egregious examples of overharvesting (e.g. of river turtles) in the region has increased, but strategies for the protection of riverine biodiversity remain underdeveloped. Where legislation to protect water resources has been put in place, it has been directed towards enhancing human use of water — not biodiversity conservation — and enforcement is weak. Exceptionally, the Chinese government has produced national ‘Red Data Books’ for endangered freshwater vertebrates, and legislation aimed at protecting species at risk, particularly from overharvesting, are in place. Huge obstacles remain, especially in the management of rivers crossing international boundaries. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) provides an example of a model for an international drainage basin that has made significant progress in establishing appropriate structures and mechanisms for sustainable development in a challenging political landscape. Not all of the Mekong riparian states participate in the MRC, and this will be essential for sustainable management. However, even within national borders, local interests can override drainage-basin perspectives. In many places in Asia, preservation of near-pristine freshwater environments is not a realistic option. Sustaining human livelihoods is an over-riding concern, and recognition of this fact must be built in to biodiversity conservation efforts. This has special implications for the management of exotic species, as the example of fish introductions to the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea shows. Notwithstanding the various factors that constrain publication by scientists in tropical Asia, we must recognise that poor dissemination research results will have consequences for the long-term preservation of the habitats and biodiversity that we study. A change in research strategy that establishes priorities, recognises the inevitability of trade-offs, and includes greater emphasis on engagement and partnerships — as in the MRC — is mandated.

Socio-economic Analysis of the Tonle Sap Region, Cambodia: Building Links and Capacity for Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Cambodia is recovering from three decades of violence. The Tonle Sap region is the poorest part of this deprived country. Its economy now suffers from substantial informal and destructive activities. A socio-economic analysis of the region--a part of the Mekong River Commission's Water Utilization Programme, which serves the lower Mekong's Basin Development Plan (BDP)--is documented. Besides the multifaceted collection and analysis of data and information from participatory fieldwork, various databases, mathematical models, expert interviews and so forth, a crucial part of the work is to build up and reinforce links between the Mekong River Commission, ministries, provincial authorities, non-governmental organizations, universities and ultimately local communities, and thereby root the BDP into the emerging civil society. Otherwise, the BDP is at high risk of sharing the fate of its predecessors on the Mekong as well as in many other parts of the world. This fate has too often been a failure of the plan, however integrated it has attempted to be.

The Politics of Regional Governance in the Mekong River Basin

The opportunities for the six states that share the Mekong River to benefit directly from its joint management are more limited and the risks to the livelihoods of downstream communities from development schemes more important than the historic rhetoric of Mekong development has implied. Changes in the broader political and economic context have sidelined the Mekong River Commission, the one institution charged with regional cooperation to manage the river. Improved regional governance in the decades to come depends upon efforts by many actors to raise the incentives for intergovernmental cooperation, expand civil society engagement, and strengthen mechanisms for cross-border accountability.

Democracy in Global Environmental Governance: Issues, Interests, and Actors in the Mekong and the Rhine

This paper presents a study of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the International Commission for Protection of the Rhine (ICPR). The primary focus of this study is to analyze and explain how the issues, interests, and participation of local communities and non-state actors, such as industries and non-governmental organizations, are incorporated or not incorporated into transnational environmental governance in the MRC and ICPR regimes. Analyzing issues, interests and actors across three layers—local, national, and transnational—of the MRC and ICPR, this paper argues that the spirit of democracy can be enhanced in global environmental governance. Although states remain central players in the governance of global environmental resources, non-state actors have made striking advances both in the creation of environmental regimes and in efforts to make these regimes function effectively once they are in place. This phenomenon of increased

Democracy in Global Environmental Governance: Issues, Interests, and Actors in the Mekong and the Rhine

This paper presents a study of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the International Commission for Protection of the Rhine (ICPR). The primary focus of this study is to analyze and explain how the issues, interests, and participation of local communities and non-state actors, such as industries and non-governmental organizations, are incorporated or not incorporated into transnational environmental governance in the MRC and ICPR regimes. Analyzing issues, interests and actors across three layers - local, national, and transnational - of the MRC and ICPR, this paper argues that the spirit of democracy can be enhanced in global environmental governance.