scholarly journals Integrated Approach for Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Mekong River Basin

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pham Ngoc Bao ◽  
Bijon Kumer Mitra ◽  
Tetsuo Kuyama
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Hydropower Development ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Full Member ◽  
Trade Offs

This paper analyses roles of integrated approach to establish a regional mechanism for sustainable hydropower development in the Mekong River Basin. Based on a critical review of the current trend of hydropower development, it argued that existing approach of uncoordinated Mekong mainstream hydropower development cannot ensure sustainable development; rather it causes negative impacts on food security, livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecosystem across the river basin, especially countries in Lower Mekong Basin (LMB), including Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. As a result, it fails to bring positive net benefits at both national and regional level. Specifically, if all proposed mainstream dams are constructed and fully operated, Lao PDR is the only economically winner of billions USD after 20 years, while Thailand, Cambodia, and Viet Nam are losers, and total net value will be minus 275 billion USD. Early recognition of the “nexus” interactions amongst hydropower development and cross-border food security, water security and livelihoods can minimise the risk of diplomatic conflicts and social unrest, and is only enabled when member states are willing to divert high-level government priorities from national interests to transboundary interests, as implementing the nexus approach throughout the river basin could contribute to reducing trade-offs between hydropower development and basin-wide socio-economy, and increase synergies through implementation of benefit-sharing mechanisms towards a win-win outcome. It recommends strengthening the Mekong River Commission via bolstered resources and coordinating authority, and encourages China to participate as a full member. It also argues that transboundary Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) of river projects should be conducted to reflect the synergic and trade-off nexus effect across the whole river basin.

In Search of the Good Dam

2015 ◽  
pp. 288-306
Author(s):  
Terry Clayton ◽  
Nicole West
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Hydropower Development ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The World ◽  
Corporate Social

There are few places in the world where hydropower development is progressing as intensely as the Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia. In searching for ways of supporting public dialog on development, the Challenge Program on Water and Food found that the hydropower sector speaks of social responsibility only in terms of “benefit sharing,” while the development sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) largely ignore or are unaware of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The chapter begins with an overview of hydropower development in the Mekong, considers some possible reasons for the absence of CSR in the ongoing debate over hydropower development, and concludes with recommendations for designing a project to build on the findings from this research.

Socio-Hydrological Modelling of Cooperation and Conflict in the Transboundary Lancang-Mekong River

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
You Lu ◽  
Iolanda Borzi ◽  
Liying Guo ◽  
Repush Patil ◽  
Yujie Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Transboundary River ◽  
The Past ◽  
Transboundary River Basin ◽  
Operation Rules ◽  
Dam Operation

<p>The transboundary Lancang-Mekong River Basin has experienced both cooperation and conflict over the past several decades. Downstream countries (Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam) rely on Mekong River for fisheries and agriculture, while upstream countries including China and Laos have been constructing dams to generate hydropower. The construction and operation of dams in upstream countries has changed the seasonality of streamflow in downstream countries, affecting their agriculture and fishery benefits. More recently, cooperation between upstream and downstream countries has led to benefit sharing and improved international relations throughout the river basin. In this presentation, we introduce a socio-hydrological model that simulates the hydrological changes in downstream countries resulting from upstream dam operation, based on collection of hydrological, economic and social data in Lancang-Mekong river basin. Our model captures the cooperation and conflict feedback loops which impacts the operation rules of upstream dams. In this way, our study generates understanding of the connections between water resources management and hydro-political dynamics underpinning cooperation and conflicts mechanism in this transboundary river basin.</p>

scholarly journals Can A Transnational Law Approach Offer A Better Understanding of International Law’s Contribution to Sustainable Hydropower Projects? A Test Case from the Mekong River Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-68
Author(s):  
Laure-Elise Mayard
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Transnational Law ◽  
The One ◽  
Development Objectives

Hydropower regulation involves an increasingly complex set of actors, scales and legal regimes. The role that international law plays in regulating hydropower, and other sustainable development issues, is challenged by this pluralism because of international law’s restrictive traditional theoretical framework, which appears to be ill-equipped to fully grasp and represent significant features of pluralistic regulation. A broader conceptualization of international law could create a more pluralist, holistic and integrated approach to regulation, making it more attuned to reality and to sustainable development objectives. This article adopts a transnational law approach embracing in a more flexible manner different elements which influence regulation and which escape existing legal categories. Hydropower projects in the Lower Mekong River Basin illustrate the mismatch between regulation mainly focused on the State, investment-related actors and regimes of large projects, on the one hand, and the growing pluralism driven by the involvement of non-State actors, specificities of environmental regulation and different levels of inquiry, on the other hand. The analysis explores the ‘blind spots’ of international law in its regulation of hydropower projects and considers the possibilities in which a transnational law approach broadens the vision of existing international law to be more pluralist.

scholarly journals Cooperation in the Mekong River Basin through Benefit Sharing

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-310
Author(s):  
이승호 ◽  
Seungkyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Mekong River Basin
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