A procedural framework for cooperative sustainable governance of water resources in the Mekong River Basin

The Mekong River, also known as the Lancang River in China, is ‘both a uniting and dividing force for Southeast Asia’. The initial focus of the thesis will identify the major environmental challenges on the Mekong River ecosystem and the status quo of water resources management in the Mekong region, focusing on the existing water-related legal arrangements and mechanisms at both domestic and regional levels. It will discuss the ongoing difficulties and as well as aspirations for reform of the water management regime. The capacity of governments and inter-governmental organisations with regard to implementation and legal regulation will also be analysed, as well as the role of non-state actors on decision-making processes concerning development activities in the region. Research studies over the past few years have made it clear that despite attempts to reshape the management of Mekong water resources into a more integrated regime, the current frameworks at both domestic and regional levels remain fragmented. Under these circumstances, the thesis attempts to explore procedural implications of integrated water resources management and its application in the Mekong region. The increasingly polycentric nature of transboundary cooperation must be borne in mind, with the emergence of newly recognised stakeholders who represent a broader range of interests than has been the case in the past. The following major procedural requirements can be identified in the proposed procedural framework: information exchange and data collection on a regular basis (chapter three);notification and consultation(chapter four);the public’s right of access to information and participation(chapter five) and environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment, and their applications in the transboundary context(chapter six). In order to tailor and better understand the procedural requirements in the context of the Mekong region, both the ideal and practical scenarios are considered, combined with selected case studies. Existing legislation and practice concerning the use and application of procedural mechanisms in the Mekong region will also be analysed. The discussion on procedural mechanisms will also consider how to improve their implementation in light of the ongoing tradition and strong preference for soft law documents and approaches to transboundary cooperation. The relationship between legally-binding agreements and the capacity for compliance in the context of the Mekong region will be discussed. In addition, the relationship between the procedural and substantial elements of integrated river basin management will be re-examined in the final chapter. The final chapter will also outline the conclusions, identify the limitations of the thesis and suggest possible areas for future research