POLICY BRIEF: Deepening Inclusive Water Diplomacy Through Water Data Sharing on the Mekong-Lancang River

Download the policy brief here.

Authors: Carl Middleton, Anisa Widyasari, Kanokwan Manorom, David J. Devlaeminck, and Apisom Intralawan.

Summary:

• In the Mekong-Lancang basin, intergovernmental scientific water data sharing has progressively expanded between governments since the early 1990s as an outcome of water diplomacy efforts. Much of this scientific water data has been made public via online platforms.

• Water data underpins water diplomacy, including through trust building and providing evidence. It is crucial in the Mekong-Lancang basin given changing river conditions due to large dam operations, climate change and other development trends that have intensified hydropolitics in recent years.

• As water data is increasingly shared between states, more emphasis also needs to be placed on effective and timely communication of water data to riparian communities including advanced warnings on changing river conditions due to upstream dam operations.

• For a more comprehensive evidence base informing water diplomacy, the scope of water data shared should be expanded to include more monitoring stations and more details on the operation schedules of existing mainstream and tributary dams.

• To make water diplomacy more inclusive and accountable, a diversity of water knowledge beyond scientific water data is required, including situated community knowledge, and civil society and academic research. Existing intergovernmental platforms could improve mechanisms to receive information from communities, civil society, and others to inform water diplomacy processes.

• To date, intergovernmental water diplomacy has focused on establishing agreements for water data sharing that increases transparency. A forward-looking policy priority within and beyond scientific water data sharing should be on establishing a rules-based basin-wide regime on the operation of hydropower dams with accountability mechanisms and community participation.

Citation: Middleton, C., Widyasari, A., Manorom, K., Devlaeminck, D.J., and Intralawan, A. (2023) CSDS Policy Brief: Deepening Inclusive Water Diplomacy Through Water Data Sharing on the Mekong-Lancang River. Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. January 2023.

POLICY BRIEF: Climate Change, Mobility and Human Rights: ‘Slow onset’ environmental change and displacement in the Mekong Region

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Visit the event resources for “Climate Change, Mobility and Human Rights” held on 24 November 2022 here.

Authors: Carl Middleton, Clare Steiner and Aran Van Rysselberge

Summary: This policy brief examines the connections between climate change, peoples’ mobility and human rights in the Mekong Region. A particular focus is on the slow-environmental change dimensions of climate change, such as sea level rise and changing seasonal weather patterns, that are shaping peoples’ mobility in less recognized ways. Slow-onset processes introduce significant complexity, given that any decision to migrate intersects with preexisting conditions and other ongoing economic and social development trends. The seeming lack of consensus on how to define and understand this form of ‘environmental migration’ has implications for law and policy, as well as responses on-the-ground.  However, a human rights-based approach is emerging that connects together climate change, mobility and human rights.

POLICY BRIEF: Shaping the Future of Mekong Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Transboundary Water Governance Through Reciprocity

Publication date:
June 2019

Publication: 
Shaping the Future of Mekong Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Transboundary Water Governance Through Reciprocity

Download the policy brief here.

This policy brief is produced for track 1.5 Mekong Policy Dialogue on evolving sub-regional architecture and the role of Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), co-organized by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australia (DFAT), The Asia Foundation (TAF), and Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) . For more information more resources from the dialogue, please visit this link here.

Authors: 
Carl Middleton, David J. Devlaeminck, and Anisa Widyasari

Key Findings

• There is deepening cooperation between the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and Lancang Mekong Cooperation (LMC). The joint activities to date can be understood as examples of specific reciprocity, namely specific exchanges of more-or-less equal value with clearly defined obligations, and have helped build trust.

• To further collaboration, regional governments will need to gradually move from specific reciprocity to diffuse reciprocity. Here, cooperation is not between specific actors alone (i.e. the MRC and LMC), but reflects a broader cooperation between wider groups of actors and beyond river-based considerations.

• To date, the MRC has directed more attention to the benefits to the river, including wild capture fisheries and other ecosystem services, whilst the LMC has emphasized more regional economic planning and projects. By working together, the river might be better protected, whilst simultaneously yielding sustainable generation of economic benefits.

• Some potential directions for furthering collaboration include: a joint, systematic baseline assessment of the current ecological and socio-economic status of the Lancang-Mekong River and key drivers of change; a joint study on the existing legal rules, customary principles, and pledges maintained by each organization to identify points of commonality and difference; and a collaborative analysis to define reciprocity as a concept, and how it can be operationalized through relevant rules and regulations working towards a rulesbased approach.

• The concept of reciprocity encompasses not just inter-state cooperation but also the interests and activities of non-state stakeholders, such as riverside communities. The MRC and LMC could consider co-organizing multi-stakeholder dialogues to generate a more complete picture of the Lancang-Mekong River and its diverse economic, social and cultural values.

POLICY BRIEF: Reciprocal Transboundary Cooperation on the Lancang-Mekong River: Towards an Inclusive and Ecological Relationship

Publication date:
November 2018

Publication: 
Reciprocal Transboundary Cooperation on the Lancang-Mekong River: Towards an Inclusive and Ecological Relationship

Download the policy brief here.

Visit the Water governance and knowledge production on the Lancang-Mekong River project page here.

Author: 
Carl Middleton
 

Summary
It is now two and a half years since the first Lancang Mekong Cooperation (LMC) leaders’ summit was held in Sanya city in Yunnan Province, China. During this period, the LMC has become increasingly institutionalized. The overarching ambition of the LMC is to deepen economic, cultural and political ties between China and mainland Southeast Asia. This policy brief assesses emerging principles for transboundary water cooperation under the LMC, in particular the concept of reciprocity that expands upon the UN Water Courses Convention. It also assesses the role of the LMC vis-a-vis the Mekong River Commission in transboundary water governance. The analysis concludes that as the LMC becomes a more consolidated institution, a genuine and equal partnership for the Lancang-Mekong River cooperation is needed that could build upon principles of “inclusive reciprocity” between state and non-state actors, and “ecological reciprocity” that recognizes the need for an ecologically healthy Lancang-Mekong River.

Mekong River at Chiang Khong, Northern Thailand (Credit: Carl Middleton)

POLICY BRIEF: Water Governance and Access to Water in Hakha Town, Chin State, Myanmar: Towards Addressing Water Insecurity [Chin language]

Publication date:
July 2017

Publication:
CSDS Policy Brief

Author:
Carl Middleton, Naruemon Thabchumpon, Van Bawi Lian, and Orapan Pratomlek

Please see the Chin language policy brief here.
Please see the English language policy brief here.

Summary
Hakha cu Kawlram nitlak chaklei fing le tlang an tamnak Chin ramkulh khualipi a si. A liamcia kum tlawmpal ah Hakha khuachung khuasa an hung karh ciammam i dinti ah harnak a tong. Cu lio ah 2015 Chiapa thla dongh ah mincimhnak hun ton a si i minung a thong lengkai hmundang ah ṭhial hau in an um. Hi kan dothlatnak nih a langhter mi cu zeitluk in dah ti harnak hi taksa nunnak le zatlang khuasaknak aa pehtlaih: Khuapi pakhat a si i, minung an hung karh tik ah zeitin in dah inn hmun an samh ti le khua an ser ning, tihram ngeih mi hna pawngkam vialte thinghau le thinghlam nak nih ti a chuak tawn mi le hman tawn mi a tlawmter, cun ti pekning le sersiam ning kong ah tangka hman awk pek lonak hna nih ti kong ah i zat lonak le harnak a chuahpi. 
Khuaram kan sersiam pah i ti kong biapi chiahnak nih ti harnak in i runven khawh a si, tiva horkuang sersiam ning, atu lio tawlrel cuahmah mi sipin ti peknak le hman ning kong ah laihlum khuasa hna le ti a hmang mi hna he i fonh in tiharnak in i runvennak timhtuahnak ngeihchih a herh. Cun, a biapi deuh rih mi cu ṭuanvo ngeitu le mizapi karlak ah i zumhnak, i bochannak le i ngamhtlaknak hna nih Hakha khuachung khuasa hna caah ti pek ning le ti hmuh ning ah hngatchan tlak le rinhchantlak a siter lai.