1. Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy:
Instant summary
Reporting team:
JianPing Wang
Chau Thi Minh Long
Pichai Uamturapojn
Ham Kimkong
Kesa Ly
Larry Harrington

2. Development objectives
Economic growth
Equity and poverty alleviation
Employment and livelihoods improvement
Water, food and energy security
Good governance
Reduced possibility of conflict
Biodiversity conservation – not least for fish
Hydropower development, WRD, electrification often seen as
important means of achieving development objectives
JP

3. Costs and benefits of WRD
WRD, especially hydropower, can have enormous benefits –
and enormous costs
Benefits readily defined:
 Clear time frame, readily quantified
Costs sometimes not so easy to quantify and value:
 Longer-term, environmental/ ecosystem services
 Affect diverse groups
 Costs often under-estimated
JP

4. Costs and benefits of WRD
If benefits of WRD do not cover costs, why invest?
If benefits of WRD do cover costs:
 How can costs be minimized?
 How can benefits and costs be shared equitably?
When investments in hydropower do not cover all costs, or
when benefits and costs are not shared, they may not help
meet development objectives
JP

5. Issues that we confront- the complexity of water
resource development
Complexity of environmental and social issues
Many unknowns
Benefits and costs from WDR go to different groups
Hard to value ecosystem services
Transboundary complications
Difficult to guarantee transparency
Limited authority and capability of RBOs
Can’t generalize from one or few projects
Enormous time and effort to get relevant input in WRD planning
HP only one option among many to obtain energy
Long

6. Issues that we confront- threats to ecosystem
services
Maintaining ecosystem services
 ES lost from floods
 Difficult to understand causes, solutions, consequences of flooding
 ES lost from reduced biodiversity
 Difficult to maintain fish: habitat, migration, spawning, large
number of species)
 ES lost due to sediment
 Difficult to control, manage sediment
 ES lost from coastline erosion
 Many others
Long

7. Things we can do – plan WRD carefully
Include all costs when planning WRD
Choose WRD sites that reduce damage to ecosystem services
(often farther upstream on tributaries)
Introduce advanced (fish-friendly, sediment-friendly)
technology
Have water release mimic natural flows
Define and maintain minimum environmental flows
Equitably share benefits and costs of WRD
Design hydropower for multiple uses (livestock, irrigation, fish)
Diversify energy sources
Pichai

8. Things we can do – use suitable tools to assess
WRD especially hydropower for sustainability
Use HSAP, RSAT and similar tools to assess hydropower
investments for quality and sustainability
Use participatory “tools for listening” to assess community
concerns about planned or on-going investments
Pichai

9. Things we can do - encourage multiple uses
Encouraging multiple uses of WRD
 Design WRD for multiple uses
 Increase farm productivity through irrigation
 In-reservoir, drawdown irrigation
 Irrigation downstream of reservoirs
 Irrigation for high-value off-season production
 Predictability of flow of water availability for irrigation
 Increase productivity of capture fisheries and aquaculture
 Make use of water from new infrastructure for livestock
 Examine trade-offs among alternative uses
Pichai

10. Things we can do – use RBOs in developing
“checks and balances” in decision making
Encourage “checks and balances” in WRD planning,
implementation and operation
Use RBOs to provide a “strong say” on behalf of the voiceless
Pichai

11. Things we can do – improve understanding and
management of floods
Strengthen early warning systems, forecasting, preparedness,
communication
Improve drainage infrastructure (clogged canals, wetlands)
Coordinate water release from dams, especially in cascades
Increase credibility and accuracy of information to public
Have those unaffected by floods help out those affected
Don’t excessively rely on dams for flood control
Water is not the enemy – don’t blame the Naga
KimKong

12. Things we can do – regulate wisely
Use regulations, legislation and enforcement to
 Encourage WRD investments that are beneficial, equitable
and sustainable
 Discourage (or redesign) WRD investments where costs
exceed benefits
 Discourage (or redesign) WRD investments where costs are
unfairly distributed
Pick highest standards when formulating regulations
Make sure that “enforcement” keeps up with the development
of regulations and legislation
KimKong

13. Things we can do – seek transparency, derive financing
from banks using sustainable development principles
Seek transparency and accountability in discussions and
negotiations in planning and financing WRD
Derive WRD financing from banks that with the highest
standards, that use solid sustainable development principles
 To reduce risk
 To have access to independent grievance /dispute
mechanisms
 To take advantage of banks’ concerns for “reputational risk”
and “corporate and social responsibility”
LKS

14. Things we can do – employ PES (payment for
environmental services)
Have some portion of electricity rates go to special fund to be
used for
 preserving ecosystem services
 fostering livelihoods equity
 mitigating negative external consequences of dam and
reservoir operation
LKS

15. Things we can do – use science to inform policy
Conduct research to obtain the facts about the consequences
for different groups of different courses of actions
When “navigating science and policy interactions” and when
dealing with “competing facts and contested values” . . .
Choose a balance between using science as:
 Arbiter – science takes the decision
 Advocate – science proposes the decision
 Honest broker – science facilitates and informs the decision
LKS