Safeguarding the Mother of Waters: Environmental Peacebuilding in the Mekong River Basin.pdf

The Mekong River weaves together cultures, sustains biodiversity, and underpins livelihoods; however, competing interests imperil its delicate equilibrium. This presentation traces the evolution of environmental peacebuilding in the Mekong River Basin and offers vital recommendations to protect the Mother of Waters.

1. Olivier Serrat | 2024
Safeguarding the Mother of Waters:
Environmental Peacebuilding in the Mekong River Basin

2. Contents
The Names of the Mekong
Powering Riparian Tensions
Unraveling the Mekong's Ecological Fabric
The Case for Environmental Peacebuilding
Environmental Peacebuilding in the
Mekong River Basin
The Challenges of Transboundary
Environmental Agreements
Transforming Environmental Cooperation
into Political Cooperation
A Future Agenda for Environmental
Peacebuilding in the Mekong River Basin

3. The Names of the Mekong
The Mekong River, stretching nearly 4,350
kilometers (2,700 miles) from the Tibetan plateau to
the South China Sea, flows through six countries:
each has its name for the river, reflecting its
importance in their lives and traditions.
The river is a lifeline for 60 million people, providing
food, water, livelihoods, and a critical means of
transportation and trade. It supports the largest
inland fisheries in the world.
The fertile lands that the Mekong River irrigates are
ideal for agriculture, earning the Mekong River
delta the nickname of "Asia's rice bowl."
The Mekong River is home to a diverse ecosystem,
including at least 1,200 freshwater species and
endangered species such as the Mekong giant
catfish, the Irrawaddy dolphin, and the giant
freshwater stingray.
In China, the
Mekong River is
known as
LancangJiang,
meaning
"Turbulent
River".
In Laos and
Thailand, the
river is called
Mae Nam Kong
(or Mae Nam
Khing in
Myanmar),
which translates
to "Mother of
Waters".
In Cambodia,
the river is
referred to as
Tonle Thom or
"Great River".
In Vietnam, the
river is known as
CuuLong, that
is, "Nine
Dragons",
representing the
nine branches of
the river in its
delta.

4. Powering Riparian Tensions
The Greater Mekong Subregion, home to over 300
million people, has seen tensions between riparian
states over the use of the Mekong River and its
tributaries.
Vietnam has expressed concerns that China's dams,
along with climate change, contributed to the worst
drought in 90 years in 2016 and damaged its rice
crops in 2019.
Laos has shared similar concerns about the impact
of Chinese dams on its farming and fishing
industries, but has at the same time advertised
plans to become the "Battery of Southeast Asia"
with its own dams.
Nearly every tributary in every country of the
Greater Mekong Subregion is now blocked by a
dam.

5. Unraveling the Mekong River's Ecological Fabric
The Greater Mekong Subregion's environmental issues extend beyond dams with
impacts from economic development, population growth, urbanization, and enlarged
consumption and production patterns. These impacts include road construction,
agricultural deforestation, mining, overfishing, palm oil and rubber plantations, logging
and illegal timber trade, as well as illegal wildlife trade.
In the 1970s, the Greater Mekong Subregion was one of the world's most densely
forested areas, but deforestation has since reduced its forest cover by a third, and it is
projected to lose another third by 2030.
The loss of flooded forests has affected the aquatic food chain, putting further pressures
on biodiversity, the fishing industry, and the 40 million people who participate in fishing-
related activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion. The loss of the flooded forests of the
Tonle Sap, one of the world's most productive and biodiverse wetlands, exemplifies this
issue.

6. The Case for Environmental Peacebuilding
Environmental peacebuilding is an approach that uses sustainable management of natural
resources to prevent conflict and build peace. It emphasizes the potential for
environmental cooperation to support peace and stability, especially in regions where
resources are shared across borders.
The concept of environmental peacebuilding is based on the idea that the inherent
characteristics of the biophysical environment can act as incentives for cooperation and
peace, rather than competition and conflict. Transboundary cooperation is particularly
relevant to environmental peacebuilding as many environmental challenges transcend
political boundaries.
In the Mekong River Basin, environmental peacebuilding is crucial considering the socio-
political challenges of fast-paced economic development, including competing national
interests and the influence of major stakeholders such as China. Environmental
peacebuilding aligns seamlessly with the Sustainable Development Goals established by
the United Nations in 2015.

7. Environmental Peacebuilding in the Mekong
River Basin
In 1952, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East of the United Nations encouraged the creation of an
intergovernmental agency for joint water management to promote peace, regional cooperation, and
development in the Lower Mekong region.
In 1957, the Mekong Committee was created to promote, coordinate, supervise, and control water resources
development projects in the Lower Mekong region. In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam signed the
Mekong Agreement to promote sustainable development and cooperation.
The Mekong Agreement established the Mekong River Commission "[t]o promote and coordinate sustainable
management and development of water and related resources for the countries' mutual benefit and the people's
well-being." "An economically prosperous, socially just, environmentally sound, and climate resilient Mekong
River Basin," the vision of the Mekong River Commission, embodies a balance between economic development,
social justice, and environmental integrity, with climate resilience as a cross-cutting focus.
China and Myanmar remained outside the framework but decided to participate as dialogue partners. But the
Lancang–Mekong Cooperation format that was introduced in 2016—and includes all six riparian states—
suggests China's belated acceptance that environmental peacebuilding needs more than dams; it needs bridges
of understanding.

8. The Challenges of Transboundary Environmental
Agreements
The Mekong River
Commission has
maintained
dialogue. But as a
non-regulatory
body, the Mekong
River Commission
offers
independent
advice without
enforcement
power, leading to
criticism that the
riparian states use
it to deflect
blame.
The Mekong River
Commission has
introduced tools
(e.g., the Mekong
Water Utilization
Project, the
Mekong
Integrated Water
Resources
Management
Project, the Basin
Development
Plan) to build
capacity in Laos,
Thailand,
Cambodia, and
Vietnam,
contributing
valuable input to
the governance of
the Mekong River
Basin.
Notwithstanding,
the Mekong River
Commission and
its tools have not
provided a final
solution for
resource
exploitation.
Large-scale
threats to the
Mekong River
Basin's ecosystem
(e.g., dam
development,
climate change,
habitat loss, illegal
wildlife trade)
persist or worsen.
The travails of the
Mekong River
Commission are
par for the course.
Implementing
transboundary
environmental
agreements is
very challenging.
In a word, the
riparian states
must immerse
themselves in
successful
decision-making .

9. Transforming Environmental Cooperation into
Political Cooperation
To achieve lasting peace, initiatives must adopt a long-
term perspective, involve local and nongovernmental
organizations, and develop administrative, economic,
and social capacities for action that transcends
polarization.
A commission is appointed, usually on a temporary
basis, to carry out specific tasks or investigations. An
authority is an organization or body that, buttressed
by enabling acts granting it legitimacy, has the power
to make decisions and enforce rules .
Institutions are the sine qua nonof both environmental
and political cooperation: therefore, the Mekong River
Commission should be redesigned so that—in addition
to serving as a regional knowledge hub—it might
directly contribute to the development of a political
agenda for active cooperation based on common
understanding.

10. A Future Agenda for Environmental
Peacebuilding in the Mekong River Basin
If the elevation of the Mekong River Commission into an authority is not acceptable, what else—in the spirit of
environmental peacebuilding—might the governments of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam commit to in
support of the vision and mission they subscribed to in 1995 and trumpeted again in their Vientiane Declaration
as recently as 2023?
But, more likely than any other foreseeable means with time running out, it could enhance the sustainable
management of the Mekong River Basin by ensuring more consistent and enforceable policies across its lower
region.
The Mekong River Commission is seen by many as ineffectual, sidelined by its own member states' insistence on
absolute national sovereignty, and marked by mistrust and miscommunication: it should be overhauled to thrive,
not struggle along by design.

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