Transboundary Water Cooperation
Promoting Climate Change Resilience in Mekong River Basin Communities
Climate change has brought about extreme droughts and floods across the Mekong-Lancang River basin, resulting into a chain of impacts including water scarcity and decline in agricultural produce. Against such backdrop, hydropower and large water storage structures offer immense potential in helping manage the water flow and in building the resilience of communities in the basin.
In October 2018, Mekong Institute, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand launched the project on Transboundary Cooperation Mechanism on Adaptation to Climate Change and Hydropower Development Projects. The Project aims to improve joint-evidence based information collection, analysis, and sharing; and support decision-making to improve communication on issues concerning water flow and water level fluctuations in the Mekong River as a result of climate change. By so doing, it also hopes to promote greater collaboration and information exchange of key stakeholders.
SPECIFIC PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Initiate a concrete mechanism for cooperation through a data/information-sharing platform on water level/flow fluctuations and reservoir management
- Increase community awareness of climate change impacts and mitigation and adaptation measures
- Broaden people’s understanding of the significance of hydropower development projects and their operations