UPCOMING EVENT: CRISEA Final Conference – Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia: The Project and its Findings [Online, 22 February 2021]

17.00 - 19.10, Monday, 22 February 2021 via Zoom

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia (CRISEA) is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme that studies multiple forces affecting regional integration in Southeast Asia and the challenges they present to the peoples of Southeast Asia and its regional institutional framework, ASEAN.

CRISEA innovates by encouraging ‘macro-micro’ dialogue between disciplines: global level analyses in international relations and political economy alongside socio-cultural insights from the grassroots methodologies of social sciences and the humanities.

CRISEA Final Conference – Programme (05) Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia: The Project and its Findings

Part Two – Research Findings: Case Studies (17.26 - 18.16))

• Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University (Environment – WP1) – Southeast Asia and China: Transnational Water Issues on the Mekong

• Dennis Arnold, University of Amsterdam (The Economy – WP2) – The Impact of Covid-19 on Special Economic Zones in Southeast Asia

• Pham Quynh Phuong, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (The State – WP3) – State-Society Relations and the Rise of the LGBT Movement in Vietnam

• Jayeel Cornelio, Ateneo de Manila University (Identity – WP4) – Christianity and the War on Drugs in the Philippines

• Kyawt Kyawt Khine, University of Mandalay (The Region – WP5) – Southeast Asia Regionalism and Myanmar’s Relations with ASEAN

For the complete program, please visit here.

The conference will be conducted online via Zoom. To attend, please visit this link here. It will also be broadcasted via YouTube Live on the channel here.

UPCOMING EVENT: "Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River"

Saturday, 7 September 2019, Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (guide to the venue here)

Co-organized by Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) and Salween Studies Network

The Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, is increasingly at the heart of pressing regional development debates. The basin supports the livelihoods of over 10 million people, and within it there is great socioeconomic, cultural and political diversity. The basin is witnessing intensifying dynamics of resource extraction, alongside large dam construction, conservation and development intervention, that is unfolding within a complex terrain of local, national and transnational governance. With a focus on the contested politics of water and associated resources in the Salween basin, in this seminar we will explore the possible futures of the Salween basin through the lens of: resource politics; politics of knowledge making; and reconciling knowledge across divides. The seminar will also launch the new book: “Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River”.

Program and List of Panelists:

08.30 - 09.00  Registration

09.00 - 09.15  Welcome remarks 

• Dr. Ake Tangsupvattana, Dean, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

09.15 - 10.30  Panel 1: Resource politics and the Salween River

Chair: Vanessa Lamb, University of Melbourne

• “From Hydropower Construction to National Park Creation: Changing Pathways of the Nu River” by Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University [with Chen Xiangxue]

• “Hydropower Politics and Conflict on the Salween River” by Alec Scott, Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) [with Carl Middleton and Vanessa Lamb]

• “Local Context, National Law: The Rights of Karen People on the Salween River in Thailand“ by Laofang Bundidterdsakul, Legal Advocacy Center for Indigenous Communities (LACIC)

10.30 - 10.45 Coffee Break

10.45 - 12.00 Panel 2: Politics of knowledge making

Chair: Professor Saw Win, Retired Rector of Maubin University

• “An Ethnobotanical Survey in Shan State, Myanmar: Where Thanlwin Biodiversity, Health, and Deforestation Meet” by Mar Mar Aye, Lashio University [with with Swe Swe Win]

• ‘'Not only Anti-dam: Simplistic Rendering of Complex Salween Communities in Their Negotiation for Development in Thailand” by Paiboon Hengsuwan, Chiang Mai University

• “Opportunities and Challenges for Salween Water Governance: Lessons learned from Daw La Lake and Kaw Ku Island, Karen State” by Saw Tha Phoe

12.00 - 13.00 Lunch

13.00 - 13.15 Short film showing: “Salween Stories” with introduction by Carl Middleton

13.15 - 14.30 Panel 3: Reconciling knowledge across divides

Chair: John Dore, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia

• “A State of Knowledge of the Salween River: An Overview of Civil Society Research” by Vanessa Lamb, University of Melbourne [with Carl Middleton, Saw John Bright, Saw Tha Phoe, Naw Aye Aye Myaing, Nang Hom Kham, Sai Aum Khay, Nang Sam Paung Hom, Nang Aye Tin, Nang Shining, Yu Xiaogang, Chen Xiangxue and Chayan Vaddhanaphuti]

• “Fisheries and Socio-economic Change in the Thanlwin River Estuary in Mon and Kayin State, Myanmar” by Cherry Aung, Pathein University

• “The Impact of Land Cover Changes on Socio-economic Conditions in Bawlakhe District, Kayah State” by Khin Sandar Aye, Loikaw University [with Khin Khin Htay]

14.30 - 14.45 Coffee Break

14.45 - 16.00 Panel 4: The future of the Salween River: Policy, politics, and practice

Chair: Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University

• “Positioning the Salween in Myanmar’s River Politics” by Khin Maung Lwin, Advisor to the National Water Resources Committee, Myanmar

• “What’s Next for the River? Is the Thanlwin ‘Under Threat’ or ‘on the Thread’” by Nang Shining, Weaving Bonds Across Borders and Mong Pan Youth Association

• “Salween as a Site for Transboundary Justice and Activism” by Pianporn Deetes, International Rivers

16.00 - 16.30 Book Launch and Concluding Remarks

This event will be broadcasted on Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/CSDSChula/

To register for this forum, please e-mail us your name, organisation, and position to  Anisa Widyasari (CSDS) at communications.csds@gmail.com. The seat is limited and registration will be accepted on first come first served basis. 

For the most updated information, you can also visit the event’s landing page here.

UPCOMING EVENT: "Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River"

Saturday, 7 September 2019, Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (guide to the venue here)

Co-organized by Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) and Salween Studies Network

The Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, is increasingly at the heart of pressing regional development debates. The basin supports the livelihoods of over 10 million people, and within it there is great socioeconomic, cultural and political diversity. The basin is witnessing intensifying dynamics of resource extraction, alongside large dam construction, conservation and development intervention, that is unfolding within a complex terrain of local, national and transnational governance. With a focus on the contested politics of water and associated resources in the Salween basin, in this seminar we will explore the possible futures of the Salween basin through the lens of: resource politics; politics of knowledge making; and reconciling knowledge across divides. The seminar will also launch the new book: “Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River”.

For more information about this seminar, please contact communications.csds@gmail.com.

For the most updated information, you can also visit the event’s landing page here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: "XVIIth Global Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons" [Lima, 1-4 July 2019]

The XVII Biennial IASC Conference, entitled ‘In Defense of the Commons: Challenges, Innovation, and Action’ will be held at the Catholic University of Lima, Peru on July 1-4, 2019. For more details about the conference, please visit this link.

Panel 3B - Hybrid governance of transboundary environmental commons in Southeast Asia

10:30 - 12.00, July 2, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru

Chair: David Taylor

• Marcel Bandur (National University of Singapore): Hybrid Governance of Transboundary Forest Commons in the Rohingya Crisis

• David Taylor (National University of Singapore): SR15, NET and the possible implications for biomass governance at low latitudes

• Rini Astuti (National University of Singapore): Assembling Commercial ForestPeatland Commons in Indonesia

• Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University): The Lancang-Mekong River as a transboundary hybrid commons: Competing collective actions and ethical principles

For more details on Carl's presentation, please take a look at the abstract here.

UPCOMING PANEL DISCUSSION: Mega dams, sand mining and renewable energy: Navigating a new course for the mighty rivers of Southeast Asia

19.00 - 22.00, Wednesday, 12th June 2019 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT), Penthouse, Maneeya Center, 518/5 Ploenchit Road, Patumwan, Bangkok, Thailand

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event. Carl will be talking about the future relationship between the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the Lancang Mekong Cooperation (LMC)

Panelists include:

• Dr. Leonie Pearson, senior research fellow, Water for Stockholm Environment Institute: A renowned ecological economist and expert in sustainable development, landscape water management, livelihood policy and urban-rural integrated assessments.

• Marc Goichot, WWF-Greater Mekong Water Lead, who has spent two decades in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos working on water stewardship, hydropower, disaster risk reduction and climate change.

• Dr. Carl Middleton, lecturer in International Development Studies and deputy director for international research in the Center for Social Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University, where he focuses on the politics and policy of the environment in Southeast Asia, with a particular emphasis on environmental justice and the political ecology of water and energy.

• Rina Chandran, land and property rights correspondent, Thomson Reuters Foundation and a former business journalist in India, Singapore and New York with Reuters News, Bloomberg and the Financial Times.

For more information about this event, please visit the webpage here.

IN THE NEWS: 'Why the Mekong matters'

IN THE NEWS:

By Sam Geall [The Third Pole, 1 November 2018]

The countries of the Mekong should build a “community of shared future”, said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in December last year. The Lancang-Mekong Cooperative Framework (LMC) is “practical and highly effective”, he said. “We do not go after a high-profile ‘talk shop’, but a down-to-earth ‘bulldozer’”.

China has managed to cement its influence over the transboundary river in recent years, in a move that has important implications for the riverine environment and the people that rely on its resources. Its primary vehicle, or “bulldozer”, the LMC, will drive dam and development projects, special economic zones and trade.

It also illustrates China’s changing approaches to Southeast Asia – the central topic addressed recently in a policy forum The Third Pole and chinadialogue co-organised with the Centre for Social Development Studies (CSDS) and the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok.

Read more at this link here

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: "Sustainable Transboundary Governance of the Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia" [Singapore, 1-2 November 2018]

Sustainable Transboundary Governance of the Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia is a workshop organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. This multi-disciplinary workshop will explore key issues in sustainable development with particular reference to the ecological commons in Southeast Asia from a transboundary governance perspective.

For more details about the workshop, please visit this link.

Panel 7 - Transborder Governance Frameworks

15:30 - 16.30, November 2, AS8 Level 4, Seminar Room 04-04, National University of Singapore, Singapore

How East Asian Regional Economic Integration Teleconnects and Transforms Wetland Commons and Community Vulnerability in Japan and Thailand

• Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

• Takeshi Ito, Sophia University, Japan

Global and regional economic integration teleconnect distant places not only economically but also ecologically. Japan is a key exporter of capital and aid provider to Southeast Asia, catalyzing industrialization and new flows of trade and investment. Whilst much emphasis has been placed by governments and transnational corporations on the economic benefits of regionalization, research has also revealed impacts to local environments including enclosure of commons and differentiated changes for communities’ vulnerabilities

For more details on this session, please take a look at the abstract here.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "Understanding the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework and China’s role in the Mekong Region" [Bangkok, 3 September 2018]

09.00 - 17.00, Monday, 3rd September at Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by chinadialogue, The Third Pole, Earth Journalism Network, and the Centre for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

The Mekong region is facing a period of rapid change shaped by a significant shift over the past decade in its relationship with China. New pathways of regional integration and intergovernmental cooperation have emerged, including through the Belt and Road Initiative and the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Framework. Associated with these shifts have been deepening trade between China and the Mekong Region, and growing flows of investment from China into a range of projects including large dams, railways, and industrial projects. Whilst these trends reflect a geo-economic shift, longstanding challenges on environmental sustainability, social equity, government-investor accountability to the public and public participation remain. Inevitably it seems, China, as a powerful country, will play a key role in shaping the future path of the Mekong Region.

This public forum will bring together experts and journalists from China and lower Mekong countries to discuss the geopolitical implications of Chinese investment and regional initiatives in the Mekong Region. It will address the Belt and Road Initiative; the challenges and opportunities in transboundary water governance under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework, together with other emerging cooperation issues; and debate by regional journalists about the trends, challenges and successes for Southeast Asia’s media on reporting on China’s role in the Mekong Region.

Program and List of Panelists:

08.15 - 09.00  Registration

09.00 - 09.15  Welcome remarks by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ake Tangsupvattana, Dean of Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

09.15 - 10.45  Session 1: The Belt and Road Initiative:  Geopolitical implications for Asia

Moderator: Asst. Prof. Dr. Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• 'Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of the Belt and Road Initiative' by Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS), Chulalongkorn University

• 'The Belt and Road Initiative: A Perspective from China' by Mr. Li Hong,Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP)

• 'What does the Belt and Road Initiative mean for US-Thailand relations?' by Benjamin Zawacki, Independent Analyst

• 'Debt Diplomacy?: The experience of Sri Lanka' by Amantha Perera, Journalist

10.45 - 11.15  Coffee break

11.15 - 12.45  Session 2: Transboundary Water Cooperation – Progress and Challenges

Moderator: Dr. Ukrist Pathmanand, Mekong Research Center, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University  

• 'Positioning the MRC in the context of the Mekong Lancang Cooperation Framework' by Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun, Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat

• 'From GMS to Belt and Road Initiative: Continuities and discontinuities in transboundary water governance in the Lancang-Mekong basin' by Dr. John Dore, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

• 'The implications of the Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noi  disaster for transboundary water governance' by Supalak Ganjanakhundee, The Nation (Thailand)

12.45 - 13.30  Lunch

13.30 - 14.45  Session 3: Rise of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework: Emerging cooperation issues

Moderator: Kamol Sukin, China Dialogue

• 'Regional energy cooperation: Institutions, infrastructure and investment' by Courtney Weatherby, Stimson Centre

• 'Opportunities for sustainable Lancang-Mekong scientific cooperation' by Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa, Stockholm Environment Institute

• 'The Lancang Mekong Cooperation Framework: Implications for Thailand and ASEAN' by Apichai Sunchindah, Independent analyst

14.45 - 15.15  Coffee Break

15.15 - 16.45  Session 4: Reporting on the Mekong and China’s role: Trends, challenges and successes for Southeast Asia’s media

Moderator: Sim Kok Eng Amy, Earth Journalism Network

• 'Challenges and opportunities reporting on the Mekong from China' by Wang Yan, News China

• 'Chinese power investment and natural resource governance in Myanmar' by Zayar Hlaing, Mawkun magazine

• 'Obstacles in covering China-investment-related stories in Vietnam' by Bui Tien Dung, Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper

16.45 - 17.00  Closing Reflections

• Dr. Sam Geall, China Dialogue

• Professor Surichai Wun’gaeo, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Chulalongkorn University

*This event will be broadcasted on Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/CSDSChula/

To register for this forum, please e-mail us your name, organisation, and position to  Anisa Widyasari (CSDS) at communications.csds@gmail.com. The seat is limited and registration will be accepted on first come first served basis.

COLLABORATION: Sustainable Governance of the Transboundary Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia

The Sustainable Governance of the Transboundary Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia (TECSEA) project is a new multi-disciplinary five year project based at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS). Led by Professor David Taylor and Professor Jonathan Rigg, it’s goal is to further understanding of key issues in the sustainable development of the ecological commons in Southeast Asia from a transboundary governance perspective, with a focus on air and fresh water.

The research project involves a team spanning the region, including the Center for Social Development Studies as a collaborator in Thailand. We are very excited to contribute to this project, in particular on its fresh water component. With growing pressures on commons ranging from the local to the national and transnational scale, this project will contribute new insights and policy guidance at a critical decision-making juncture.

For further details on the project, visit the project’s website. An introductory article on the project is published in ARI’s March 2018 newsletter (#41) which can be downloaded here.

Contact at CSDS: Dr. Carl Middleton (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com).

Peatland in Jambi, Indonesia | Photo credit: David Taylor