At the end of November, the Mekong River Commission despatched delegates to Phnom Penh, where they met to unveil their 2020 to 2025 drought management strategy.<\/p>\n
Cambodia, they pointed out, would be among the worst affected.<\/p>\n
This comes following a bleak prognosis on the health of the Mekong \u2013 water levels have reached their lowest in more than 60-years, Cambodian fishing communities reported a 70 percent drop in catches for October this year and with more hydroelectric dams on the way, the prospect of recovery is waning.<\/p>\n
Beyond the obvious power shortages causing disruption to productivity across those nations dependent on the Mekong for energy, the impact of rural-to-urban migration will soon begin to set in as fishing and agricultural communities seek refuge in the region\u2019s cities. Worse still, the slow, sad death of the Mekong will scratch at the already fraught regional ties that bind, further straining geopolitical cooperation precisely at a time when such cooperation is vital to the survival of all riparian nations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rapid transformation<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last week, the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) released its Regional Security Outlook 2020.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s annual report from CSCAP sought to address key issues affecting the region, as well as providing policy recommendations to cope with the rapid transformation currently sweeping through the nation.<\/p>\n Chheang Vannarith, president of Asian Vision Institute \u2013 a Phnom Penh based think tank that typically tackles financial and economic policies \u2013 contributed an article that underscored the urgency for genuine cooperation when managing the Mekong.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mekong River is in danger. Unsustainable and unfair management of transboundary water resources and weak regional institutions are the key geopolitical political risks facing the Mekong region,\u201d says Chheang, adding that the construction of yet more dams is seriously altering the ecological, geopolitical and socio-economic makeup of the Mekong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n World\u2019s 12th largest river<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Running through six countries, the Mekong is the world\u2019s 12th longest river and harbours more biodiversity than all other rivers barring the Amazon. It is also a key supporting element in the Tonle Sap lake \u2013 the world\u2019s largest freshwater fishery, which provides some 70 percent of Cambodia\u2019s protein intake. Both the Mekong and the Tonle Sap lake are essential resources for more than 60 million people.<\/p>\n So why is this natural resource being so wantonly abused?<\/p>\n \u201cMany factors are driving up the demand for water, including population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, intensive agriculture development and energy demand,\u201d writes Chheang.<\/p>\n \u201cThe complexity and interdependence of the issues and interests associated with a resource such as the Mekong River have been plain for a long time but resource nationalism and geopolitical competition have diluted sensible responses and allowed risks to escalate,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nationalised imbalance<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This nationalised imbalance can be seen clearly, with China\u2019s 11 dams contributing more than 40 percent of the water into the river during the dry season. Laos is hoping to add a further 63 dams to its collection that so far stands at 64 \u2013 when lined up against Vietnam\u2019s 16 dams and Thailand\u2019s nine, it\u2019s impossible to say that the two dams Cambodia operates cause as much damage to the Mekong.<\/p>\n While Cambodia may be lacking in dams, it has contributed to the ecological devastation of the Mekong through aggressive sand mining \u2013 the product of which is essential in the construction of dams. In 2015, Cambodia was the seventh greatest exporter of sand \u2013 having created a $53 million industry, but this has reportedly dropped to $36 million in 2018 as export capacity has been reduced.<\/p>\n A Public Broadcasting Service special report highlighted the extent of the damage wrought on Cambodia\u2019s fishing communities by sand mining, exposing discrepancies between exports of sand reported by Cambodia and imported Cambodian sand recorded in Singapore, prompting many experts to warn the Kingdom that sand is a finite resource.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tangible Cooperation<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But now is not the time for pointing fingers and casting aspersions \u2013 now is the time for unity and tangible cooperation all the way down the banks of the Mekong.<\/p>\n \u201cAny examination of water resource management in the Mekong region will expose the lack of strategic trust \u2013 seen in the limited transparency and reluctance to share information \u2013 among the riparian countries,\u201d explains Chheang, noting that distrust has been the key stumbling block to regional cooperation on the issue so far.<\/p>\n This distrust perhaps stems from the principles of Asean \u2013 the policy of non-interference that has allegedly maintained a tense version of peace across the region, is now seen as undermining efforts at collaboration at a time when it is needed most.<\/p>\n Regional security think tank \u2013 the Asia Society Policy Institute \u2013 foresaw this in a 2017 report that featured contributions from former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, Barack Obama\u2019s former national security adviser Thomas Donilon and US-China relations expert Wang Jisi from Peking University.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deepening mistrust<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn the absence of greater transparency, technological advancements are deepening mistrust between regional neighbours and leading nations to skew their own investments in an effort to hedge against other countries\u2019 perceived advantages,\u201d they wrote two years ago, but the words remain ever more pertinent today.<\/p>\n This is Chheang\u2019s central message too \u2013 the need for connectivity rather than isolation is now too pressing to ignore. There needs to be an effective and open sharing of knowledge and expertise, he argues, saying that the lack of institutionalised data sharing is currently exacerbating the problems facing the Mekong.<\/p>\n There is a clear web of connections between the crises Southeast Asia will face should we allow the Mekong to perish \u2013 energy, water and food are all intrinsically entwined in one transboundary resource and as such Chheang highlights the need for a holistic approach that engages all relevant stakeholders from across each affected nation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Water security<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe Asean vision 2025 does not have a clear policy on water security\u2026 Asean should include water security in its community vision and raise the profile of water security in the political security agenda of Asean and its member states. Institutional connectivity between Asean and the Mekong River Commission needs to be enhanced in order to generate better policies through multi-stakeholder dialogue and greater coordination,\u201d argues Chheang, who calls for greater preventative diplomacy in the wake of the Mekong\u2019s most dire analysis yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Riparian Southeast Asian nations must recognise the urgency of cooperation on the Mekong river<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[80],"yoast_head":"\n