MEKONG THE MOTHER AND THE NEW （湄公河母亲和新）.pdf

MEKONG THE MOTHER AND THE NEW CHALLENGE by SOK Saing Im and WATT Botkosal Abstract The Mekong flow trough six Southeast Asia countries namely Southern China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its mighty resources attracted attention to many explorers from outside especially from Europe. People in this region were poor and most of them are still living under the poverty line. It was until early 1950 after the independence of the three former Indo-Chinese countries that dreams on development of the resource of the Mekong took shapes. Supported by the United Nations and its related agencies and 21 donor countries, the Mekong Committee for Investigation of the development of the Mekong River Basin was formed. The 1995 Mekong Agreement was based on new cooperation principles and the cooperation frameworks are being elaborated. Sets of rules supported by number of procedures and guidelines were formulated. Due to the complexity of the basin natural resources and its use in space and time additional detail data supporting Integrated Basin Management is being compiled and further research program is being planned. It is of great hope for the people that the old and new dreams will resurface again. The successful implementation of the Agreement could not be achieved without proper sectoral, regional and local integration of all aspects of development to the lowest level. A change is required from the previous way of planning at all level in each of the riparian country with mutual respect and “meeting the present needs without compromising the capacity of the future generation to meet their own” (Gro Harlem Bruntland in Lord Osborne, 2000). This will be a big challenge for all parties concerned. Key words: Basic knowledge