ASEAN agreement on the sustainable development of the Mekong River
MEKONG RIVER
It is the 12th longest river in the world at 4,173 kilometers
The headwaters originate in the Tibetan region of China
The rivers flows through Yunan Province in China into five Asean (Myanmar, Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand, Vietnam)
It forms a boundary between Laos and Myanmar
COMMON GROUND
The lower Mekong countries have found a common ground on which to cooperate in
addressing issues from a basin point of view
Cooperation in all fields of sustainable development, utilization, management
conservation of water and other resources is somehow evident in irrigation, hydro-
power, navigation, flood control, fisheries, timber floating, recreation and tourism
initiatives and projects
A Mekong committee was setup by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and then Republic of
South Vietnam in 1957 to promote, coordinate, supervise and control the planning and
investigations of water resource development projects
BASIN NATION’S AGREEMENT
In 1995, the Agreement on Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the
Mekong River was signed by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and established
Mekong River Commission
The philosophy of the agreement is to “improve the livelihood of 60 million people living
in the Lower Mekong River Basin.
China and Myanmar have not signed the agreement but were designated ASEAN
”dialogue partners” in 1996 and have participated in various Mekong River related
activities
BASIN NATION’S AGREEMENT
While the signatory countries agreed to “cooperate in maintaining minimum floe levels of no
less than the acceptable monthly minimum flow rates during each month of the dry season,”
the same agreement does not require consent/consensus/agreement of the riparians for
national projects which may affect the river flow levels
The agreement was also silent about the distribution of water to the member states although
basic principles to be applied in developing rules for water distribution are set forth in the
agreement
After sixty (60) years of ASEAN riparian country cooperation in the utilization of the Great
Mekong River, some questions surfaced that needed to be attended to:
1. What type of activities are or should be forbidden within the shared Mekong River
Basin?
2. Is it possible to harmonize national laws of the riparian countries to regulate the use of
the shared basin?
3. What does it really mean to manage the Mekong River Basin in an integrated manner?
4. What rights and obligations do upstream and downstream states have?
5. How can environmental flows be effectively regulated within the shared Mekong River
Basin?
