A brief commentary note on the "Monitoring the Quantity of Water Flowing Through the Upper Mekong Basin Under Natural Conditions" study by Alan Basist and Claude Williams (2020)
Summary of the commentary
• Dam development in the upper reaches of the Mekong has led to changes in seasonal flows, with increased dry season flows and decreased wet season flows. Both phenomena are observed in the LMB, with the impact on the flow regime becoming progressively less noticeable further downstream.
• The findings of the Eyes on Earth study have not yet well taken into account the complexities of rainfall and runoff, thus not reflecting the actual hydrological conditions in the Basin. The conclusions drawn are based on calculated flows and not an analysis of the actual flows at Chaing Saen set against the long term trends.
• As the methods presented by the authors are highly empirical and calibrated on the period 1997 2001, various complex hydrological and physical processes that determine the runoff from the catchment and the river are not captured in the regression functions.
• Our preliminary analysis of hydrological and rainfall data showed that the 2019 drought in the basin was due largely to insufficient rainfall during the wet season with a delayed arrival and earlier departure of monsoon rains and an El Nino event that created an abnormally higher temperature and higher evapotranspiration.
• Inadequate information on water infrastructures in the Mekong River Basin and the way these infrastructures are operated have made it challenging to forecast short term impacts
Unlocking opportunities for rural entrepreneurs and farmers in sub-Mekong region
This publication tells 15 stories of rural people whose lives have been changed by the work of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, the Philippines and Viet Nam. These stories provide examples of how our work is constantly evolving, piloting new ideas, solving problems in innovative ways, building on lessons learned and scaling up initiatives that work well, into larger projects. The stories also emphasize the importance of a wide-range of partnerships on the ground and the role of dedicated project staff in bringing about project success. As a results based and learning organization, IFAD believes strongly in knowledge sharing. By collecting and sharing these stories, we hope to disseminate our experiences to a wide audience and support readers to learn more about the issues that poor rural people face.
The back-to-back workshops form part of the technical assistance for planning and development component of the Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration in the ASEAN Region: Responding to Food Security and Inclusiveness Concerns (ATMI ASEAN) Project, which is jointly implemented by (SEARCA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Initiated in 2016, the (ATMI- ASEAN) Project aims to strengthen the capacity of ASEAN member states in developing policies and programs to improve the state of small holder farm sector vis-à-vis the agricultural transformation and market integration being driven by the ongoing ASEAN integration.
As an impact of the ongoing El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, severe drought and salinity intrusion has been occurring in Mekong River Delta (MRD) of Vietnam and has caused varying degrees of damage to agriculture, fisheries and the livelihoods of people in the region. On 15 March 2016, the Vietnamese government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a meeting with donors, international organizations and other partners to discuss joint efforts for drought response and recovery.
Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure Project in Northern Viet Nam Successfully Promotes Application of Bioengineering Techniques
This report puts together the findings of the assessment of country components of the Greater Mekong Subregion economic corridors. Along with six country reports, the integrative report was prepared by a study team led by the Asian Development Bank, which serves as the GMS Secretariat.
The main focus of agricultural trade facilitation is on the procedures that such trade undergoes in moving from the country of origin to the country of destination. Many, if not most of these procedures, are bureaucratic in nature involving papers and documents required for the traded products to be cleared and released to consignee (or loaded on the transport facility in case of exports). This follows the general meaning of trade facilitation as defined by the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as “…simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures that include activities, practices and formalities related to the collection, presentation, communication and processing of data required for the movement of goods…”1 Traditionally, this was confined to the processes and procedures at the borders, but with the expanded and more integrated logistics approach this has encompassed behind-the-border processes and procedures on both the production and consumption sides.
Environment ministers from the six countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) endorsed the Core Environment Program (CEP) Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2018-2022 in Chiang Mai in February 2018. The program, which was launched in 2006 and administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is embarking on its third phase. The new 5-year environment strategy will focus on green technologies and sustainable infrastructure, natural resources and ecosystem services, and climate resilience and disaster risk management. Within each of these priority areas the CEP will support three types of interventions that influence the investment project cycle: investment preparation and financing, knowledge management and technology uptake, and policy and strategic planning. These interventions will leverage the program's competencies on developing and supporting investment projects (such as the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors project, Green Freight Initiative, and Climate Friendly Agri-Business Value Chain).
In 2014, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) decided to launch and finance a research and capacity-building project on economic integration within ASEAN. More specifically, the project was aimed at dealing with the specific problems that the four less prosperous countries of ASEAN (i.e., Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam, collectively known as the CLMV group) would have to cope with in the context of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which was to be fully realized by the end of 2015. The first phase of the project, which was carried out in partnership with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), dealt with reforms in the agriculture sector. The second phase, the results of which are presented in this publication, concentrated on non-tariff measures (NTMs) and geographical indications. This phase was carried out in partnership with researchers from the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) and its secretariat at ESCAP.