Water, Land and Ecosystems - 1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

MK31: Professional Development of Water Governance and Regional Development Practitioners in the Salween Basin

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

For over six million people, the Nu-Thanlwin-Salween River and its water resources are inextricably linked to local livelihoods and wellbeing, agricultural production and food security, and local economies. Recent processes of conflict transformation in the basin alongside regional economic integration, and socio-economic changes are all reshaping the river basin’s development trajectory. There are, furthermore, plans for up to 20 dams along this transnational river. Yet, to date no comprehensive impact assessment has been undertaken, and there remain large gaps in knowledge on water, land and energy use, management and governance in the basin. Thus, to strengthen governance and increase the likelihood of sustainable and fair decisions, there is considerable need to build knowledge and research capacity within the basin, and to support research networks capable of informing the rapid changes underway. This project will strengthen the capacity for undertaking research and policy engagement of scholars and practitioners of water, land and energy use, management and governance in the Salween Basin. A particular cross-cutting focus of the project is research on gender and other forms of social marginalization. It also intends to build a learning community amongst these scholars and practitioners, and link them with similar initiatives in the Ayeyarwady, Mekong and Red River basins.

Contact Person

Carl Middleton (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

Partners

MA in International Development Studies (MAIDS), Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, Mekong Program on Water, Environment and Resilience, Sustainable Mekong Research Network, Ubon Ratchathani University, Vietnam Academy of Water Resources (VAWR), Myanmar Environment Institute, Faculty of Development Studies, Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), GMS Centre, Yunnan University, Mekong River Commission (MRC), Integrated Capacity Building Program, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) - Asia, Australian Mekong Resource Centre (AMRC) – University of Sydney, Regional Centre for Sustainable Development (RCSD), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (Australia), Department of Geography, Ryerson University (Canada)

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

MK30: Capacity building and professional development for inclusive governance and management of water and ecosystem services in the Ayeyarwady River Basin

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

The project has four inter-related components (see Figure below)  Component 1: At the heart of the project is a fellowship programme to enhance the capacities of professionals from key organisations at national and state levels. A 16 month WLE curriculum will be developed and offered to a diverse group of water professionals by Yangon Technological University with support from international experts. The fellowship programme addresses key knowledge and skills including cooperation and teamwork, and combines training and practical project work (related to the two WLE and other projects) supported by coaching. To recognise current, and support future, capacities at YTU, a first batch will be supported more strongly by other project partners and by providing YTU lecturers with training-for-trainers. By 2017, 25 fellows (in two batches) will have successfully completed the programme, with verified enhanced capacities to contribute to inclusive water and ecosystems services, governance and management in the Ayeyarwady River Basin.  Component 2: focuses on enhancing the policy engagement skills of organisations, scholars and practitioners at state (Kachin, Magway, and Ayeyarwady) and related local levels. Given the current decentralisation, these are expected to increasingly play a role in inclusive water and ecosystems services governance and management. Skills include networking, writing, listening, debating, and campaigning, and will be acquired through training workshops that lead to mentored project work related to the two WLE research projects. By 2017, 35 participants will have successfully completed the training, and have verified enhanced policy engagement skills to more actively and effectively contribute to the research-policy interface.  Component 3: organizational capacity building will be achieved by, on the one hand, cooperation with local partners (DWIR, ARBRO, YTU), and on the other, strong attention to the institutionalisation of project outputs. An example of the latter is the embedding of the fellowship programme at YTU, and the piloting of a certification system to facilitate and assure quality of professional development in different organisations supported by NARBO.  Component 4: to promote shared learning among local actors and benefit from experience from further afield, the project will strengthen linkages and collaboration among government, academia and civil society. This will be operationalised by regular events to provide a platform to enable dialogues, and sharing findings and results (e.g. from WLE and related projects, and fellows), establishment of new collaborations and development of training and communication material including websites, brochures, and video materials. These events will also allow fellows and policy engagement participants to practice the skills they have gained.

Contact Person

Wim Douven (w.douven@unesco-ihe.org)

Partners

UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems, Ministry of Transport, Ayeyarwady River Basin Research Organisation, Mandalay Technology Ltd, IUCN Myanmar, Yangon, Delft University of Technology

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

MK 21 Matching policies, institutions and practices of water governance in the Salween-Thanlwin-Nu River Basin: Towards inclusive, informed, and accountable water governance

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

This project will map out the economic and political drivers and rationales – as well as their (potential) impacts – that shape water governance in the Salween-Thanlwin-Nu River Basin. Its goal is to catalyze more inclusive, informed and accountable decision-making, in particular ensuring that the rights and entitlements of marginalized communities – both women and men – are recognized. At the centre of our analysis is consideration of difference, including gender and ethnicity, and how this both shapes and is shaped by water governance processes and practices at multiple scales. Shared between China, Myanmar and Thailand, the Salween-Thanlwin-Nu River supports the livelihoods of more than six million people. Rapid political transformations in Myanmar are redistributing power and access to resources and holds significant implications for the river basin’s development trajectory. Meanwhile, ongoing economic integration between Myanmar, Thailand and China – and more broadly in the Greater Mekong Subregion and ASEAN – is also shaping the river basin’s future. The basin is the target of more than 20 large dam projects as well as large-scale agricultural investment and increasingly the focus of international aid. These projects are being planned without comprehensive basin-wide assessment to date on ecosystem, local livelihoods, local systems of governance or an understanding of how these projects may have impacts within and among communities along gendered and ethnic lines. Despite the Salween River’s importance, limited water governance research has been undertaken to capture the different cultural, political, and socio-economic values generated by the Salween River and its adjacent basin ecosystems. Engaging at the interface of water, land, and ecosystems (e.g. agriculture, energy production), this project will undertake targeted and multi-scaled research for enhancing water governance in the Salween Basin, strengthen networks between university researchers and civil society groups, contribute to the empowerment of local communities, and support civil society engaging in formal and informal decision-making processes. The project will also support capacity building of the research partners, build local researcher and university networks across the Salween basin, and culminate in a major public conference in 2017. At the local level, grassroots researchers will document existing institutional arrangements for water governance in seven villages in China and Myanmar, including considering the roles and responsibilities of women and men. At the national and regional level, decision-making frameworks (e.g. institutions and policies) and (formal and informal) processes around water governance will be mapped and analysed. Grassroots researchers, university researchers, and civil society researchers will meet regularly in a process of presenting key research findings, receiving training, and strengthening collaboration. The project will produce local information materials on communities’ rights and entitlements, academic research papers, and policy briefs for governments and potential investors that aim towards ensuring inclusive, informed and accountable decision-making processes for local communities, with particular emphasis on how this differs along gender and ethnic lines.

Contact Person

Vanessa Lamb (vlamb@ryerson.ca or lambv.ann@gmail.com)

Partners

Department of Geography, Ryerson University (Canada), MA in International Development Studies (MAIDS), Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, Regional Centre for Sustainable Development (RCSD), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, Karen Environment and Social Action Network (KESAN), Paung Ku, Myanmar, Renewable Energy Association Myanmar (REAM), Myanmar Academic Research Society (MARS), Green Watershed, International Water Management Institute

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

MK20: A Space for Dialogue: People, Perceptions, and Principled Outcomes in the Governance of the Mekong

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

The Mekong River traverses six countries and over 4,300 km, with diverse stakeholders holding multiple, overlapping, and sometimes competing interests, often yielding tensions and conflict over the priorities and processes of river governance. The repercussions of various development choices on social equity and environmental sustainability have been extensively debated. Resolving these requires high capacities to assess complex problems, modes of ensuring credible commitment, and the application of broad knowledge sets. For all that is unresolved in Mekong governance, one thing is clear: in order for decisions to be perceived as binding and legitimate, intense deliberation and negotiation is required. Current barriers to consensus have been documented, including a deficiency of productive dialogue; the marginalization of important stakeholders; and limitations to the legitimacy of agreements. As such, our theme ‘A Space for Dialogue’ has three aims. 1. To facilitate the construction of indigenous definition(s) of Good Mekong Governance (GMG) that partly reconciles conceptualizations held by government, civil society, business, and communities. 2. Build capacity for deliberation over complex institutional and political challenges. 3. Establish new inroads of representation, engagement, and negotiation amongst traditional adversaries to promote more equitable and sustainable governance systems.

Contact Person

Kim Sean Somatra (somatra@cdri.org.kh)

Partners

National University of Singapore, The NGO Forum on Cambodia, Cambodia Development Resource Institute, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

MK 29: Working together for a better Kachin landscape - A landscape approach to the upper Ayeyarwady river basin: Building inclusive governance processes to address resource conflicts

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

MK29 will use a combination of participatory action research processes (PAR) and technical assessment also using and adapting existing spatial data to generate valuable empirical data. This data will be used to feed inclusive multi-stakeholder governance deliberations for improved planning and decision-making, engaging key political actors and civil society groups, and also the private sector. It will also contribute capacity building, particularly for more marginalized stakeholders including women. The project aims to research and to reduce conflict over resources, enhanced river basin and ecosystem health overall, and specifically clean water supply, and resource-based local livelihoods.

Contact Person

Oliver Springate-Baginski (Oliver.springate@uea.ac.uk)

Partners

Water Security Research Centre, School of International Development, University of East Anglia (UK), Friends of Wildlife, Yangon / Myitkyina, IUCN Myanmar, Yangon, London School of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, Shalom Foundation

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 31, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

MK28: Implementing cross-sectoral negotiations to coordinate Nam Xong water resources, livelihoods, ecosystem services and agricultural intensification

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

Integrating the interactions between river management, agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, land use change and livelihood status into cross-sectoral negotiations is an acute knowledge gap when designing development interventions in the Mekong region. Policy decisions are currently geared to single sector, agency specific objectives. Although policy outcomes can approximate single sector objectives, adverse and unforeseen social, ecological and economic consequences can emerge for other sectors. Failure to treat individual sectors as part of a coupled social and ecological system compromises overall system performance, generating unaccounted externalities and distributional disparities. Recent evidence from Mekong case studies indicates that sectoral coordination framed by the water food and energy nexus combined with improved systems thinking remedy institutional impediments and bridge prevailing science-policy boundaries. The project will facilitate a participatory process to coordinate development investments framed by the water food and energy nexus and develop systems learning of Lao PDR decision-makers. The process facilitates the discovery of water food and energy interactions and a robust foundation for decisions that address gender specific livelihood, ecological and economic trade-offs arising from proposed Nam Xong River basin water and land development investments. The participatory process will investigate, evaluate and coordinate proposed or impending development interventions and investment decisions; will be conducted with diverse and potentially competing agencies at three governance levels, and focus on the gender specific trade-offs between livelihoods and ecosystem services in the Nam Xong. In preparation of this proposal, stakeholders in Lao PDR were consulted regarding prioritization of research for development initiatives. The National Economic Research Institute (NERI) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) have identified the Nam Xong as a river basin where competing and diverse water and land demands occur, are likely to continue and decisions across governance levels are often non-coordinated. The cross-sectoral analysis and joint evaluation of livelihood and ecosystem services is a unique feature of the participatory decision support process we propose to conduct in the Nam Xong. This project is led by the Mekong Region Futures Institute in partnership with the National Economic Research Institute, Ministry of Planning and Investment (Lao PDR) and the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Lao PDR).

Contact Person

Alex Smajgl (alex.smajgl@mekongfutures.com)

Partners

Mekong Region Futures Institute (Thailand and Laos), Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Lao PDR, DG National Economic Research Institute, Ministry of Planning and Investment Lao PDR

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 31, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

Countries

Laos

MK26: River Food Systems from Villagers’ Perspectives in the Mekong Delta

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

Since 2012, WARECOD has supported local people to conduct local knowledge research (Thaibaan) in three communes in the flooding area of An Giang and Dong Thap provinces. The most important outcome of this research have been that villagers have gained the confidence to participate in dialogues with authorities, and have a new willingness to share their findings and ideas with other communities regarding the conservation and protection of water resources, and associated ecosystem services. After doing their research, the local research groups have become nucleus members of river monitoring groups for self-managing water and aquatic resources in their areas. The communities have been using the knowledge that they have gathered and documented to plan for better management of the water resources in their villages. For example, the research showed that one of the main causes of fish catch declines in the area was overfishing. In response, the community now works together to develop communications plans to encourage fishermen to not use destructive fishing gear. They also discussed these issues with local authorities and asked for help to organize a fish release festival at least once a year. Based on the successful results of these projects we are planning to expand our work to four other communities in Can Tho (middle alluvial area), and Soc Trang and Bac Lieu (coastal area). By expanding the Thaibaan to other representative geographical areas of the delta, we aim to (i) compare how communities depend on ecosystem services for their livelihoods and nutrition across sites, (ii) better understand upstream-downstream interdependencies, and (iii) strengthen the connections between different Thaibaan groups in the Lower Mekong region.

Contact Person

Nga Dao (nga@warecod.org.vn)

Partners

The Center for Water Resources Conservation and Development, DRAGON Institute, Can Tho University, Viet Nam Television 2, College of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Can Tho University.

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 31, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

MK33: Capacity Building and Professional Development of Water Governance and Regional Development Practitioners in the Red Basin

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:00 +0000

Massive changes in land and water resources are expected in the next two decades in the Red River Basin, the second most important river basin of Vietnam. This has the potential to contribute greatly to development, but also to environmental degradation and further marginalization of particular groups and their livelihoods. This calls for national, regional and international support for evidence-based knowledge to guide this rapid development. Compared to the Mekong River, comparatively limited research on the Red River Basin has been undertaken. To strengthen governance and increase the likelihood of sustainable and fair decision-making, there is an urgent need to build knowledge and research capacity within the basin and to support the individuals, academic institutes and research networks capable of informing the rapid changes underway in the basin. This opens a great opportunity for the international communities to support newly structured autonomous universities with more up-to-date curricula that consider the emerging needs in the country and regional economic integration in Greater Mekong. This project will strengthen and expand relevant capacities of the Red River Basin (RRB) focused cohort of critical and engaged young scholars and practitioners of water governance and regional development, and link these to researchers to other Greater Mekong basins, through a multi-country/multi-basin collaborative fellowships program and organizational capacity building to improve teaching/training curricula on water governance and effective communication. A particular cross-cutting focus of the project is research on gender and other forms of social marginalization. It also intends to build a learning community amongst these scholars and practitioners, and link them with similar initiatives in the Ayrewaddy, Mekong and Salween basins. The project will foster collaboration among regional networks and organizations that have common interest and experience such as M-POWER and SUMERNET. The project will achieve this through an 18-month mentored fellowship program for 10 research fellows. Each research fellow will produce timely and needed research, and share their findings with government officials, researchers, civil society, community representatives and the private sector relevant to their particular research project, including by producing a conference paper, a policy brief and two blogs, and joining a policy-relevant international conference or seminar. At least two research fellows’ research will focus specifically on gender. The capacity of research fellows will also be strengthened through mentorship, as well as joining workshops organized for the fellows and ‘water governance curriculum’ training. Eight research fellows will be invited to extend their fellowships to produce a book chapter or academic paper based on their research, with at least two fellows having a gender focus. As a result of the project: (1) Early career researchers will have an enhanced ability and confidence to engage in reasoned analysis, critique and policy advocacy in pursuit of more equitable and sustainable modes of water, land and energy use, management and governance in the RRB. (2) Policy in the fields of water, land and energy relevant to the specific research topic of each research fellow will be more inclusive of, and responsive to, the concerns of hitherto marginalized groups. (3) A learning community will be established within and beyond centres of higher education in the region for research and training in the field of progressive use, management and governance of water, land and energy.

Contact Person

Nguyen Tung Phong (phongicd@gmail.com)

Partners

Vietnam Academy of Water Resources, Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

Countries

Vietnam

MK32 Project: Professional Development of Water Governance and Regional Development Practitioners in the Mekong Basin

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:00 +0000

This project will strengthen and expand relevant capacities of a Mekong-focused cohort of critical and engaged young scholars and practitioners of water governance and regional development, and link these to researchers in other Greater Mekong region basins, through a multi-country/ multi-basin collaborative fellowships program, teaching/training curriculum on water governance and effective communication. The project will foster collaboration among regional networks and organizations that have common interest and experience on the programs on professional development such as the M-POWER and SUMERNET.

Contact Person

Kanokwan Manorom (kmanorom11@gmail.com)

Partners

Ubon Ratchathani University, MA in International Development Studies (MAIDS), Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, Vietnam Academy of Water Resources

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

Countries

Thailand

MK25: Developing an operational framework for river health assessment in the Mekong River Basin

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:00 +0000

The objective of this project is to develop an indicator system to monitor and evaluate river health in the Mekong River Basin (MRB), and demonstrate its application in a selected catchment—the Songkhram (Thailand). River Health Indicators (RHIs) (and corresponding health assessments) in the MRB, and especially the study area, have traditionally been centred on river water quality parameters. Other drivers of river health, such as catchment disturbance, hydrological changes, riparian habitat conditions, etc. must, however, be taken into consideration in developing a RHI system to paint a complete picture of river health conditions. The proposed project, thus, seeks to plug existing gaps by developing a holistic indicator system, using a systems-based approach, at two scales - catchment, and community - capable of addressing a variety of dimensions (components) of river health in the MRB. A key aspect of the proposed project endeavours to involve and engage local communities to monitor river health (which is currently not the case) in order to build consensus around the activity and ownership around the results, so that they have a voice in subsequent river health decisions. The project implementation will involve two broad work packages, with the support of two partners - the Thai Water Partnership (TWP), and the Pollution Control Department (PCD) of Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE). The first of these is aimed at developing a holistic indicator system, at different spatial scales, using the Driving forces ‒ Pressures ‒ State ‒ Impact ‒ Response (DPSIR) framework to contextualize prominent driving forces of river health, and multi-dimensional scaling techniques and other statistical tools to arrive at specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) indicators. The second work package will involve activities to implement the indicator system for monitoring the Songkran’s river health, which will, amongst others, include primary and secondary data collection and analysis; establishing a community-based monitoring system; and capacity building exercises for communities to monitor river health. The community-based monitoring system will then be evaluated to look for means of improvement/fine-tuning. A cross-cutting work package will focus on garnering community involvement, especially women, throughout the duration of the project: i.e. from the development of the indicator system to carrying out activities to improve the river health (if found wanting). This will be primarily be done through stakeholder meetings, fora, and focus group discussions. It is expected that the primary project output will be an innovative indicator system for monitoring river health, which will include dimensions of river health hitherto not considered (described earlier), and which will be used by the government agencies, with support from communities.

Contact Person

Mukand S. Babel (msbabel@ait.asia)

Partners

Asian Institute and Technology, Pollution Control Department, Thailand

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.3 Greater Mekong Subregion

Regions

Southeast Asia

Countries

Thailand