Minister Bounkham Vorachit (centre) addresses the ministerial meeting. --VT
VIENTIANE (Vientiane TImes/Asia News Network): In the face of challenges threatening the water resources of the Mekong and the livelihoods of the people relying on it, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bounkham Vorachit has called for innovation and cooperation to respond to the ongoing problems.
Delivering her opening remarks on Tuesday (April 4), the Lao minister told attendees at the Ministerial Meeting for the 4th Summit of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) taking place in Vientiane that climate change is bringing extreme flooding and drought to the region.
Climate change has exacerbated floods and drought in the Lower Mekong River Basin. In the wet years of 2018 and 2000, the number of people suffering from floods increased to as many as 12 million.
Meanwhile, drought frequency increased in the 10 years from 2010 to 2020 compared with the previous decade, according to the MRC - the intergovernmental body that serves as a platform for the management of water resources and sustainable development in the region.
In addition, Bounkham said industrialisation and a growing population have placed burdens on the natural resources of South-East Asia’s largest river, which provides livelihoods for tens of millions of people.
“We need to forge a new path for more balanced and optimal Mekong water resources management and development,” Bounkham, who is a member of the MRC Council for Laos, told meeting participants.
“Therefore, innovation and cooperation for water secure and sustainable development are needed in this river Basin.”
Ministers and heads of delegations from the MRC member countries – Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - and representatives of the upper Mekong countries of Myanmar and China together with development partners attended the ministerial meeting.
“I am glad that we are present here today to reiterate our high commitment to cooperation which is indeed a way out to respond to these challenges, and capture development opportunities,” said Bounkham, who is also Chairperson of the Lao National Mekong Committee.
Participants reviewed the MRC’s achievements since the 2018 Siem Reap Declaration. They also listened to a presentation on the outcomes of the International Conference that took place two days earlier, when hundreds of experts from across the world brainstormed ways that innovation and cooperation can create a future water secure and sustainable Mekong.
The ministerial meeting is a lead up to the 4th MRC Summit dedicated to the theme “Innovation and Cooperation for a Water Secure and Sustainable Mekong” scheduled to take place on Wednesday in the Lao capital.
“We will see how these [the meeting outcomes] feed into tomorrow’s discussions by the Heads of the MRC Governments while they reiterate their high-level political commitment to Mekong cooperation, to the mandate of the MRC, and to the peaceful and sustainable development of the water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin,” the Lao minister said.
She added that over the past 28 years since its founding in 1995, the MRC has progressed and achieved significant outcomes.
These include shaping the shared vision for an economically prosperous, socially just, environmentally sound and climate resilient Mekong River Basin, paving the way for the river basin to move towards sustainable development.
