Mekong River Commission MRC Water Utilization Program WUP

Mekong River Commission (MRC) Water Utilization Program (WUP) Choomjet Karnjanakesorn, WUP Team Leader 21 June 2005 Salvador, Brazil 1

Contents 1. Mekong Cooperation 2. Mekong River Commission 3. Water Utilization Programme 2

Mekong River Basin The 8 th largest and 12 th longest river of the world Upper Mekong 1. China – 16% of total flow 2. Myanmar – 2% Lower Mekong Basin 3. Cambodia – 18% 4. Lao PDR– 35% 5. Thailand – 18% 6. Viet Nam – 11% 3

Mekong Cooperation History 1957 Committee for Coordination of Investigation of LMB (Cambodia, Lao, Thailand & Vietnam by UNESCAP) 1978 Interim Mekong Committee (Lao, Thailand & Vietnam) 1995 Mekong River Commission (Cambodia, Lao, Thailand & Vietnam) 4

The 1995 Agreement n Agreement to cooperate for sustainable development n Underlying legal principles: 1. Sovereign Equality and Territorial Integrity 2. Reasonable and Equitable Utilization n Protection of the Environment – a key element n Establishment of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) 5

MRC Organizational Structure Government of Cambodia Government of Lao PDR Government of Thailand Government of Vietnam COUNCIL DONOR CONSULTATIVE GROUP JOINT COMMITTEE NATIONAL MEKONG COMMITTEES Mekong River Commission Secretariat 6

MRC Programmes n Core Programmes 1. Basin Development Plan 2. Water Utilization Programme 3. Environment Programme 4. Flood Management & Mitigation programme n Sectoral Programmes 5. Hydropower Programme 6. Navigation Programme 7. Fisheries Programme 8. Agriculture, Irrigation and Forestry Programme 9. Tourism Programme 7

Water Utilization Program (WUP) n WUP: one of the “core programmes” of the MRC n WUP provides the “tools” to implement the 1995 Agreement n A 7 -year WUP start-up project (2000 – 2006) with – $11 m GEF-financing + $1 m from MRC – $5. 3 m co-financing from Finland, Japan and France 8

Water Utilization Program (WUP) WUP has 4 main activities 1. Basin Modeling and Knowledge Base 2. Environmental and Trans-boundary Analysis 3. Rules/Procedures Formulation 4. Management and Institutional Strengthening 9

1. Basin Modeling n A basin-wide computer-based modeling and knowledge base system developed in 2. 5 year with participatory approach n A powerful and transparent tool to support basin-wide planning and transboundary impacts assessment n Completed in March 2004 and approved by all MRC member states as a MRC official planning and analytical tool 10

2. Environmental and Transboundary Analysis 2 main activities Integrated Basin Flows Management (IBFM) n Application of Environmental Flows Approach n Environmental flows assessment using multi- disciplinary panel based on assessment of tradeoffs between development opportunities, economic, environmental and social beneficial uses Integrated Water Quality Management (IWQM) n Formulation of Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) n Identification of Beneficial Uses and recommendations on Water Quality Standards 11

3. Rules Formulation Total of 5 Rules/Procedures under WUP Three Procedural Rules - completed 1. Data and information exchange and sharing – agreed in 2001 2. Water use monitoring – agreed in 2003 3. Notification, prior consultation and agreement – agreed in 2003 Two Technical Rules/Procedures – in progress 4. Maintenance of flow on the mainstream - 2005 5. Water quality – 2005 12

Conclusions n MRC Water Utilization Program n n n GEF-financed support is due to be completed in late 2006 A challenging process! Progress to date demonstrates the continued commitment of the member states to the 1995 Agreement Appreciation to GEF/World Bank and co-financers for their constant support 13

Thank you for your kind attention 14