The Mekong River Commission Presented by Mr. Detsada Soukhaseum, Mekong River Commission Secretariat, 16 November 2015

 Presentation of the Mekong River Basin  Mekong River Commission  Challenges  Key for success  Conclusion Presentation outline

Mekong River Basin Region’s Largest Basin Total area: km2 Source of living for 65 million people Upper Mekong Basin: PR of China and Myanmar Lower Mekong Basin : Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam

 to ensure sustainable development of the Mekong River including environment protection, equal use of water and free navigation  to turn the Mekong River into a sound economically prosperous, socially just and sound environmental Basin organization  to promote and coordinate sustainable management and development of water and relaetd resources for the countries mutual benefits and their people well being Mekong River Commission Mandate Vision Mission

Mekong River Commission Structure Member Countries : Cambodia Lao PDR Thailand Viet Nam Contribution: 18% Contribution: 34% Contribution: 30%

Mekong River Commission Structure Dialogue Partners PR of China Myanmar Development Partners Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands,, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, the World Bank, ADB

Dialogue PartnersArea of cooperation People’s Republic of China Republic of the Union of Myanmar Exchange of meteo-hydrological data during wet season Sharing information on drought and low flow condition in the Lancang/Mekong River Notification to the MRC on abnormal water fluctuations Exchange of technical visits Navigation safety Attended two MRC Summits in 2010 and 2014 Navigation Irrigation Human Resources development Technical cooperation Information sharing Considering accession to the MRC

flags Countries /organisations Area of cooperationsupport Australia planning, decentralisation, council study, capacity building, IWRM $15,987,586 Belgium Hydropower, navigation 15,374,419 Denmark fisheries, environment, climate change, planning $10,726,132 EU climate change$6,435,000 France forecasting.$1,100,000 Finland council study, wmtf, information and knowledge management, capacity building, hydropower $15,892,909 Germany wetlands, hydropower, organisational reform, climate change, watershed management $10,195,350

Japan Agriculture, drought management, flood management $3,790,832 Luxembourg:climate change.$2,600,000 Sweden planning, climate change, environment, flood management, fisheries, institutional support $8,563,000 Switzerland council study, environment, flood management, planning $13,694,157 USAcouncil study, flood management.$2,500,000 World BankIntegrated water resource management$8,000,000

MRC Council MRC Joint Committee Mekong River Commission Secretariat National Mekong Committees/ Line Agencies Government of Cambodia Government of Lao PDR Government of Thailand Government of Viet Nam

Legal framework MEKONG RIVER COMMISSION SECRETARIAT 2014 economically prosperous, socially just and environmentally sound Mekong River Basin

MRC Guidelines and Procedures 1.Procedure on Data and Information Exchange and Sharing (PDIES), Procedure for Water Use Monitoring, (PWUM), 2001, 3.Procedure for Water Quality (PWQ), Procedure for Notification and Prior Consultations Agreement (PNPCA), Procedure for Maintenance of Flows on the Mainstream (PMFM), 2008

6 Programmes At the Office of Secretariat in Vientiane (OSV) 1. Basin Development Programme (BDP) 2. Climate Change Adaptation Initiative(CCAI) 3. Environment Programme (EP) 4. Initiative for Sustainable Hydropower (ISH) 5. Integrated Capacity Building Programme (ICBP) 6.Mekong Integrated Water Resource Management Programme (M-IWRMP)

6 Programmes At the Office of Secretariat in Phnom Penh (OSP) 7. Agriculture and Irrigation Programme (AIP) 8. Information and Knowledge Management Programme ( IKMP) 9 Flood Management and Mitigation Programme (FMMP) 10. Fisheries Programme (FP) 11. Navigation Programme (NAP) 12. Drought Management Programme (DMP)

Challenges Differing long-term major national uses of the river Different levels of economic development, geographical position with respect to the river, and the relative significance of the Basin in each country Threat from rapid economic development, poor urbanization plan Limited understanding of the functioning of the natural systems in MRB institutional capacity of Member Counties Need for adaptation in the context of ASEAN Economic Community (EAC) in 2015.

Solutions Differing long-term major national uses of the river Different levels of economic development, geographical position with respect to the river, and the relative significance of the basin in each country Threat from rapid economic development, poor urbanization plan Comprehensive Mekong Basin wide strategic Planning

Solutions institutional capacity of Member Counties Need for adaptation in the context of ASEAN Economic Community in Poor understanding of the functioning of the natural systems in MRB Build capacity of the Member Countries about planning tools, benchmarking tools

Keys for success Different priorities Different levels of economic development, Cambodia Lao PDR Thailand Viet Nam

Keys for success Different priorities Different levels of economic development, National Provincial Local Horizontally National Provincial Local Vertically Bottom up approach Ministries Line Agencies Adequate resources

Mekong River Commission understanding of the functioning of the natural systems in MRB institutional capacity of Member Counties

1957 Mekong Commitees 1995 Mekong Agreement Basin Development Plan IRMP based Basin Development Strategy procedures Core Function Decentralisation Self financing in 2030 Phasing out of support from the Donors Streamlined MRCS Basin Developmeent Plan Ripanisation

Thank you