Free Flow

[

] 71

ransboundary

ater

anagement

development was happening and it was imperative to

ensure that the move to coordinated and coopera-

tive development took full account of transboundary,

social and environmental impacts and led to substan-

tive, positive development outcomes.

The primary products at the end of the BDP were

a basin-wide cumulative impact assessment of the

countries’ water resources development plans and the

Basin Development Strategy. The latter was a consen-

sus product that described strategic priorities for basin

development and management, specifically in order to

move identified development opportunities to imple-

mentation. The difficulty encountered in the BDP is

not surprising considering the differences between the

countries – sovereign nations, national development

plans, water and non-water sectors, differing devel-

opment priorities, varying levels of socioeconomic

development and different political systems.

In January 2011 15 years after the Mekong Agreement

was signed, the MRC Council adopted the integrated

water resources management (IWRM) based Basin

Development Strategy, which sets out the shared under-

standings of the opportunities and risks of the national

plans for water resources development in the LMB. The

strategy established 15 strategic priorities to address

knowledge gaps, optimize development opportunities

and minimize uncertainties and risks associated with

them. It is implemented through a Basin Action Plan.

This was an important milestone, reintroducing a focus

on water development to support poverty reduction

and economic growth, and complementing the focus of

water management.

develop the Basin Development Plan (BDP), establishing a set of

procedures for information exchange, water use monitoring, main-

taining minimum flows, notification and consultation on water

use projects and maintaining water quality. Parallel work was

undertaken on transboundary Environmental Impact Assessments

(tbEIA), navigation protocols, regional fisheries management,

flood warning and several different monitoring protocols.

Practical experiences

A key area of active engagement between the MRC member coun-

tries is the Basin Development Strategy. The mandate for the BDP

is clearly framed in the Mekong Agreement. However, practical

engagement in developing the BDP did not begin until late 2001,

six years after the agreement was signed. This was attributed to

different perceptions on basin planning among riparians, weak-

nesses in the MRC Secretariat and differing views of development

partners on the BDP.

The BDP’s first phase focused primarily on planning processes

and tools including a knowledge base and modelling capability, on

non-controversial projects, and on building relationships. These are

necessary but insufficient conditions for cooperation and develop-

ment, which also requires products – actions and outcomes.

By 2006, when the second phase of the BDP was launched, the

LMB had changed greatly, with water investments in national

programmes taking place due to rapidly increasing water, food

and energy demand and growing private sector involvement,

particularly in hydropower and commercial agriculture. This

shift from dependence on multilateral banks and their safeguards

underscored the need for strengthened national regulatory frame-

works. The BDP moved beyond process alone to focus on water

development at national and regional levels, without returning to

the earlier almost exclusive focus on water infrastructure. Mekong

Water resources in the basin will play an important role in the development of the LMB countries

Image: MRC