Managing transboundary rivers: The case of the Mekong river basin

• Published in: Water international Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 503 - 523
• Main Authors: Sokhem, Pech, Sunada, Kengo, Oishi, Satoru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01-12-2007
• Subjects: Integrated River Basin Management; Mekong River Basin; regional regimes networks; transboundary problems
• ISSN: 0250-8060; 1941-1707
• DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2007.9709685

During the last decade, leaders of the Mekong Countries have found it mutually advantageous to open up the Mekong Sub-Region (MR) for development and trade, which promises some degree of political stability and regional security. Within the present political, cultural, and economic dynamics, the Mekong River Basin (MRB) - one of the major international river basins in MR - is a powerful catalyst for regional cooperation that facilitates sustainable development and regional stability; if, that is, the effective management intervention is in place to make sure that the benefits and costs of river basin development are spread equitably and peacefully. Nonetheless, there are numerous stumbling blocks in achieving integrated and balanced MRB management, such as limited success in real basin wide planning, implementation and monitoring and a poor knowledge base for supporting informed decision making and, finally, political impediments.
A workable and truly regional cooperative mechanism for integrated management of the MRB is yet to be developed, regardless of the existence of numerous regional institutions and organizations. The present paper proposes new schemes with (re)designing principles and performance determinants for a regional cooperative mechanism.