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14 - Cooperation in the Mekong Basin5. Cooperation to promote environmental sustainabilityA number of international organisations have developed basin-level initiatives to promoteenvironmental sustainability and natural resource conservation. These include the World ConservationUnion, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Oxfam. All of these agencies have long historiesof promoting cooperation to sustain the environment in individual Mekong countries, but fosteringregional cooperation is a relatively new initiative.The World Conservation Union (IUCN) 10 has recently developed an Asia programme that focuseson conservation of forests, bio-diversity and aquatic ecosystems. Thailand was one of the originalsignatories to the IUCN Charter, and in the early 1960s IUCN assisted the government in setting upThailand’s National Park system and developing legislation concerning wildlife. In the 1980s and1990s, IUCN played similar roles in the other three Lower Mekong countries and has worked withthem on preparations to sign and implement international agreements such as the Ramsar Conventionand the Convention on Biological Diversity.In the 1990s, with the coming of peace tothe LMB and the planning of large-scaleinfrastructure projects such as regionalhighways and dams, IUCN has beenhelping governments and developmentagencies to conduct baseline studies inenvironmentally-fragile areas such aswetlands and watersheds. IUCN has alsobeen working with local communities infragile areas to develop sustainablelivelihoods such as eco-tourism.In 2003, in partnership with MRC andUNDP, IUCN began a five-year, $32.6million programme to promote regionalPressure to develop resources is growing rapidlyin the LMBcooperation in assessing and conserving biodiversity. The Mekong River Basin Wetland BiodiversityConservation and Sustainable Use Programme is being funded by the Global Environment Fundthrough UNDP. Working in demonstration areas within the four lower Mekong basin countries, theprogramme will include components to determine the economic value of biodiversity in the MekongBasin and test the suitability of incentives to preserve biodiversity. A study of environmental flowswill identify the water quantity and water quality requirements of Mekong River and flood plainecosystems and determine how to ensure that these requirements are considered in planning andmanaging water resources development. 11The World Wide Fund for Nature, like IUCN, has a long history of promoting cooperation amongmultiple stakeholders and has been working in the Lower Mekong Basin for more than a decade. In2002, WWF launched its five-year Indochina Strategy that encompasses Cambodia, Lao PDR andViet Nam. The goal of this strategy is to ensure that biological diversity is valued and conserved bycurrent and future generations. To identify priority conservation problems and develop realisticsolutions, WWF promotes collaboration among LMB government agencies, local communities,mass organisations and international agencies. WWF has also identified the Mekong River as one ofits Global 200 Highest Priority Ecoregions and featured the Mekong as one of five “Living Rivers”in its worldwide “Living Waters Campaign”. 12289