SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

14 - Cooperation in the Mekong Basin6. Challenge of cooperationThe Mekong Basin is a complex region politically, socially and in terms of its environment. Thereare many players: international organisations such as ASEAN, ESCAP and MRC, six nationalgovernments, and many provincial and local level government organisations. In addition there areorganisations providing development support, including the World Bank, the Asian DevelopmentBank and many donor countries. Civil society organisations complete the mix, and these range fromlarge international organisations such as IUCN, WWF and Oxfam to small local groups includingunions, cooperatives and conservation groups.Previous attempts at regional planning such as the Mekong Committee’s Indicative Basin Plan in1970 are seen as having had limited success. There are a number of possible contributing factors.Clearly any planning process must achieve some sort of consensus on what the basin should be. Thetechnical aspects of planning, development and environmental management are relatively simple incomparison with the challenge of identifying the preferred outcome for the basin.One can envisage two extremes along a development spectrum. At one end, a completely pristinebasin with intact ecosystems and almost no people – a kind of wilderness. At the other extreme abasin covered in concrete and factories, with a polluted river reduced to a chain of reservoirs. Neitherextreme would be acceptable to most of the people in the basin – but the challenge lies in achievingconsensus on what point, between the extremes would be acceptable. What kind of river, what kindof environment, do the people of the basin want?The six countries within the Mekong Basin have different national development goals. The visionsof development held by national governments do not always accord with development visions ofpeople at the village level. Plans of government agencies may not match the views of civil societygroups. There is now broad recognition throughout the worldthat successful planning must be inclusive, and take intoconsideration the needs and aspirations of all the stakeholdergroups.The MRC Basin Development Plan project is one recent initiativethat is working to develop an inclusive planning process.However, the achievement of that goal will not be easy. Even indeveloped countries with far greater resources of time and money,inclusive planning processes have been difficult to achieve.Inevitably the plans produced leave some stakeholder groupsdissatisfied, and usually no group achieves all it wants.The first step in effective planning is to build cooperation acrossthe basin. There is a need for greater understanding, trust andbreadth of vision. The advantage that the Mekong Basin hasover many other regions is that a start has been made while theriver is still in good condition, and there are still sufficient naturalresources available in the basin. It should be easier to limitdegradation and loss of resources than to restore degradedsystems. However, the longer we wait the more difficult itbecomes.The Mekong River system is still ingood condition and basin widecooperation at all levels is crucialto ensure that it stays that way291