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Water - and its governance - is becoming a global concern partly because it is turning into a goods in short supply, with devastating effects on literally billions of people, but also because it is the "carrier" of global warming; whether through irregular weather patterns or through flooding, water is how global warming will be 'felt'. The lion's share of the globally available fresh water resources is to be found in transboundary systems. In spite of its significance, the generated knowledge on how to deal with transboundary waters is weak and leaves policy makers with seemingly unavoidable, trade-off dilemmas and prioritizations, often with detrimental effects. In order to disentangle this predicament this volume works with one case: the Lower Mekong Basin and covers state-of-the-art academic and practitioners' knowledge and hence appeals to a wide audience. The topic this volume addresses is situated in the nexus of an IR- (International Relations) approach focussing on transboundary politics and its inclination to remain within the sphere of state sovereignty and national interest on the one hand, and Development studies, with its imperatives on participation, planning, and intervention, on the other. The dilemma, we argue, of better understanding transboundary water management lies in how to understand how these two rationalities can be simultaneously nurtured. Audience: This book will be relevant to scholars, as it provides cutting-edge research, and students, since it covers the primary debates in the field, interested in resource management, regional politics, and development issues in the area. It also addresses the global debate on transboundary water management and presents an in-depth case of one of the globally most sophisticated attempts at pursuing sustainable river basin management. Finally, practitioners and policymakers would benefit greatly because all contributions have explicit policy relevance, launching suggestion on improvements in water management.
This research thesis will explore the relationship between integrated water resource management (IWRM), water conflict and cooperation within the Mekong River Basin and the capacity of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to influence water governance in a rapidly evolving region. The paper will also analyse the historical evolution of the MRC and its role and influence on regional water governance within a highly complex geopolitical landscape. Based on a comparative analysis of the MRC's response to two large-scale water related infrastructure investments the paper will also assess its institutional capacity to mitigate and mediate transboundary conflict. The paper will then explore ways by which the MRC could become more relevant and effective in its role of mitigating and mediating transboundary water related conflict within the changing Mekong waterscape. The Mekong River starts in Tibet and journeys 4,000 kilometres through Southeast Asia until it reaches the South China Sea in Vietnam. It is of vital importance for national economic development of Upper and Lower Mekong countries whilst also being integral for the subsistence livelihoods of millions of rural poor reliant on the river for existence (Osborne, 2000). The current rate of rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia and China is placing increased pressure on natural resources and the environment. The impact of competing national development objectives between the Mekong riparian states (and also within sovereign borders) has, and will continue to result in sporadic localised tension (Jacobs, 2002). Examples of localised conflict on the Lower Mekong Basin catalysed (or escalated) by competing water resource developments includes disputes over the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project, the proposed Thailand Water Grid Project and the Sesan, Sre Pok and Sekong (3S) hydropower projects on the Vietnam - Cambodia tributaries of the Mekong River. This third example (which will be explored in greater detail in Chapter 5) demonstrates the reality of water-related transboundary conflict. As an internationally supported river basin organisation, the MRC will be an important stakeholder in regional water governance especially as the drivers for water-related conflict increase within the Mekong Basin. However, the current institutional capacity of the MRC to mitigate and resolve conflict between riparian countries is weak (Backer, 2007). In a period of increasing economic growth and regional integration among Mekong riparian nations the increasing threat of water-related transboundary conflict has the potential to impede economic growth and compromise geopolitical stability. This thesis analyses water governance mechanisms in the Mekong however it is impossible to decouple water governance from the water, energy and food security nexus. This nexus reflects the interdependencies between water, energy and food by which energy production can influence water demand and access for food production. At the same time, water use can affect food security as well as energy requirements. The choices people make about what food they consume (which are closely linked with demographic and lifestyle changes and economic growth), influence both water and energy demands. For transboundary water governance to be effective it must acknowledge the links between water, energy and food security and the impacts on or relations to environment, climate, people's livelihoods and the economy.
Water - and its governance - is becoming a global concern partly because it is turning into a goods in short supply, with devastating effects on literally billions of people, but also because it is the "carrier" of global warming; whether through irregular weather patterns or through flooding, water is how global warming will be 'felt'. The lion's share of the globally available fresh water resources is to be found in transboundary systems. In spite of its significance, the generated knowledge on how to deal with transboundary waters is weak and leaves policy makers with seemingly unavoidable, trade-off dilemmas and prioritizations, often with detrimental effects. In order to disentangle this predicament this volume works with one case: the Lower Mekong Basin and covers state-of-the-art academic and practitioners' knowledge and hence appeals to a wide audience. The topic this volume addresses is situated in the nexus of an IR- (International Relations) approach focussing on transboundary politics and its inclination to remain within the sphere of state sovereignty and national interest on the one hand, and Development studies, with its imperatives on participation, planning, and intervention, on the other. The dilemma, we argue, of better understanding transboundary water management lies in how to understand how these two rationalities can be simultaneously nurtured. Audience: This book will be relevant to scholars, as it provides cutting-edge research, and students, since it covers the primary debates in the field, interested in resource management, regional politics, and development issues in the area. It also addresses the global debate on transboundary water management and presents an in-depth case of one of the globally most sophisticated attempts at pursuing sustainable river basin management. Finally, practitioners and policymakers would benefit greatly because all contributions have explicit policy relevance, launching suggestion on improvements in water management.
'Employing a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between states and nonstate actors, Tun Myint develops a convincing account of the evolution of governance systems for the Rhine and Mekong river basins. In the process, he not only adds to our knowledge of water management at the international level but also deepens our appreciation of the various roles that nonstate actors play in international environmental governance.' – Oran Young, University of California, Santa Barbara, US 'Comparative studies of great river systems and the politics of their regulation are rare. Far rarer still are comparisons of this historical depth, analytical sophistication, attention to local detail and to the contingencies that make breakthroughs possible. Tun Myint's study of the Rhine and Mekong will inspire and inform future studies of both river and environmental politics.' – James C. Scott, Yale University, US 'This is a must read for scholars and water governance practitioners as it addresses the underexploited role of non-state actors and local citizens in the field of international water governance. The book fills in this knowledge gap by offering an inspiring refinement of the theory of polycentricity. Evidence is found by well written and attractive in depth case studies dealing with the international clean up of the Rhine and the construction of the Pak Mun Dam in the Mekong basin.' – Carel Dieperink, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 'This superb analysis of water governance in the Rhine and Mekong river basins should be read by everyone interested in the challenges of international water management.' – Thomas Bernauer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland This important book employs the theory of polycentricity, a system with several centres as an analytical concept to explain the multilayered international environmental governance of river basins. It introduces a new methodological framework to deconstruct and investigate the dynamics of citizens, states and non-state actors in world politics via the context of river basin governance. The methodology is tested through in-depth field-based case studies, illustrating how local citizens and industries in the Mekong and Rhine river basins participate in transnational environmental governance at both local and international levels. Tun Myint expertly presents both a methodology and theory to conceive polycentricity of world politics as a major intellectual milestone in theorizing world politics. Providing nuanced details of cases showing the challenges and feasibilities of incorporating multiple actors into a governance framework, the book provides careful analysis into the power of non-state actors. This book will prove insightful for scholars and postgraduate students in international relations, international development, global environmental governance, and international business administration. It will also prove an invaluable resource for practitioners and policymakers.
Governance of global water resources presents one of the most confounding challenges in contemporary natural resource governance. With considerable government, citizen and financial donor attention devoted to a range of international, transnational and domestic laws and policies aimed at protecting, managing and sustainably using fresh and coastal marine water resources, this book proposes that sustainable water outcomes require a ‘trans-jurisdictional’ approach to water governance. Focusing on the concept of trans-jurisdictional water governance the book diagnoses barriers and identifies pathways to coherent and coordinated institutional arrangements between and across different bodies of laws at local, national, regional and international levels. It includes case studies from the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and Southeast Asia. Leading specialists offer insights into the pretence and the promise of trans-jurisdictional water governance and provide readers, including students, practitioners, policy-makers and academics, with a basis for better analysing, articulating and synthesising standards of good trans-jurisdictional water governance both in theory and in practice.
Collective Action is now recognized as central to addressing the water governance challenge of delivering sustainable development and global environmental benefits. This book examines concepts and practices of collective action that have emerged in recent decades globally. Building on a Foucauldian conception of power, it provides an overview of collective action challenges involved in the sustainable management and development of global freshwater resources through case studies from Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America. The case studies link community-based management of water resources with national decision-making landscapes, transboundary water governance, and global policy discussion on sustainable development, justice and water security. Power and politics are placed at the centre of collective action and water governance discourse, while addressing three core questions: how is collective action shaped by existing power structures and relationships at different scales? What are the kinds of tools and approaches that various actors can take and adopt towards more deliberative processes for collective action? And what are the anticipated outcomes for development processes, the environment and the global resource base of achieving collective action across scales?
An international river basin is an ecological system, an economic thoroughfare, a geographical area, a font of life and livelihoods, a geopolitical network and, often, a cultural icon. It is also a socio-legal phenomenon. This book is the first detailed study of an international river basin from a socio-legal perspective. The Mekong River Basin, which sustains approximately 70 million people across Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, provides a prime example of the socio-legal complexities of governing a transboundary river and its tributaries. The book applies its socio-legal analysis to bring a fresh approach to understanding conflicts surrounding water governance in the Mekong River Basin. The authors describe the wide range of uses being made of legal doctrine and legal argument in ongoing disputes surrounding hydropower development in the Basin, putting to rest lingering caricatures of a single, ‘ASEAN’ way of navigating conflict. They call into question some of the common assumptions concerning the relationship between law and development. The book also sheds light on important questions concerning the global hybridization or crossover of public and private power and its ramifications for water governance. With current debates and looming conflicts over water governance globally, and over shared rivers in particular, these issues could not be more pressing.
This book examines the political economy that governs the management of international transboundary river basins in the developing world. These shared rivers are the setting for irrigation, hydropower and flood management projects as well as water transfer schemes. Often, these projects attempt to engineer the river basin with deep political, socio-economic and environmental implications. The politics of transboundary river basin management sheds light on the challenges concerning sustainable development, water allocation and utilization between sovereign states. Advancing conceptual thinking beyond simplistic analyses of river basins in conflict or cooperation, the author proposes a new analytical framework. The Transboundary Waters Interaction NexuS (TWINS) examines the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in riparian interaction. This framework highlights the importance of power relations between basin states that determine negotiation processes and institutions of water resources management. The analysis illustrates the way river basin management is framed by powerful elite decision-makers, combined with geopolitical factors and geographical imaginations. In addition, the book explains how national development strategies and water resources demands have a significant role in shaping the intensities of conflict and cooperation at the international level. The book draws on detailed case studies from the Ganges River basin in South Asia, the Orange–Senqu River basin in Southern Africa and the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia, providing key insights on equity and power asymmetry applicable to other basins in the developing world.
Entry into force of the UN Watercourses Convention in August 2014, and the opening of the UNECE Water Convention to all states in March 2016, are significant milestones in international water law. A comparative analysis of these two global water conventions and the 1995 Mekong Agreement reveals that all three instruments are generally compatible. Nonetheless, the international legal principles and processes set forth in the two conventions can render the Mekong Agreement more up-to-date, robust and practical. The Governance Regime of the Mekong River Basin: Can the Global Water Conventions Strengthen the 1995 Mekong Agreement? contends that strengthening the Agreement would be timely, given the increasing pressures associated with the rapid hydropower development within the basin and the gradually emerging disputes therein. Due to these fast-moving developments, Kinna and Rieu-Clarke strongly recommend that the Mekong states should seriously consider joining both conventions in order to buttress and clarify key provisions of the 1995 Mekong Agreement.