[Tlc] TLC-Mekong

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Aiden Glendinning.
Best,
justin

Changes along Mekong Challenge Planning Process

Vientiane, Lao PDR
14 March, 2008

Economic growth will lead to significant changes in the annual
flows of rivers in the Mekong Basin, and the use of their
water, complicating the task of development planning, and
making it vital that decision-making processes become wider
and more inclusive. That feeling was one of the major themes
expressed by participants at a stakeholder forum in Vientiane,
hosted by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) on March 12-13.

 

The forum, organised by the MRC's Basin Development Plan
Programme, gave representatives from different areas of
society a chance to share their views on current planning and
development scenarios in the basin, and on how events in the
near future may shape resource use in coming years.

A traditional view of the Mekong is that its power has not
been harnessed – that because of the lack of storage dams, a
lot of water is not utilised but is left to flow into the sea
unused. This means there is enormous potential for hydropower,
agriculture and other activities if wet season flows can be
harnessed. The conventional wisdom applied by economic
planners is that the excess water that causes flooding in the
rainy season can be stored to generate hydro-electricity and
irrigate crops during the dry season.

However, there is increasing acknowledgement that if the
natural flood pulse of the Mekong and its tributary rivers is
restricted, and dry season flows increase to far above their
natural levels, then the reproductive cycles of fish and
traditional farming systems could be disturbed. Such a
scenario could lead to environmental and food production
problems, particularly among the poorest people of the region.

The meeting did not seek to produce any agreement on such
issues, but rather gave a platform for decision-makers and
researchers from governmental, international,
non-governmental, and private organisations to share
information and express views on basin development. Some
participants called on the MRC to use the second phase of the
Basin Development Plan to bring more groups and views into the
planning process. Officials from the Member States of the MRC
- Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam – stressed the
need to cooperate to use the rich resources of the Mekong to
improve living conditions across the basin.

MRC staff pointed out that there are no magic solutions to the
challenges facing decision makers in the basin. While
research, monitoring and scientific modelling can provide much
information on current situations, and on the possible effects
of large individual projects such as storage dams, the
cumulative effects of rapid development will affect rivers and
the land and communities around them in ways that cannot be
exactly determined. The Basin Development Plan will help meet
this gap, provided that information is provided by all
countries and sectors of society.

Several participants expressed their appreciation of this
first chance to become involved in the planning process, and
emphasised that now is the time to accelerate this
involvement, at a time when decisions are taken that will
affect water and water use in the Lower Mekong Basin.

       For more information, please contact:
       Aiden Glendinning, Acting Communications Officer

 Tel: 856 21 263 263 Ext  4703. 
 Mobile: (856) 20 559 9139   
 Fax: (856-21) 263 264
 Email: aiden at mrcmekong.org 

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu