Highlights

The preparation of the Environmental Strategy for the region reached a crucial milestone when the final draft for submission for the JC’s endorsement and the Council’s approval in 2020 was completed on November 2019. The strategy represents a cooperative regional environmental strategy in response to the need to protect environmental and ecological assets, including those providing ecosystem services in the basin. As this is the first strategy of its kind, it focuses on the protection and conservation of 12 prioritised environmental assets in the LMB due to their regional importance in supporting basin-wide processes or due to their transboundary nature.

The Environment Strategy, formally referred to as the Mekong Strategy for Basin-wide Environmental Management for Environmental Assets of Regional Importance in the Lower Mekong Basin, is anticipated to complement the MRC Member Countries’ national strategies with respect to addressing common challenges and limitations posed – for example, by lack of data, capacity, and funding – leading towards the collective and comprehensive protection and restoration of all environmental and ecological assets of importance in the region.

Regional Environmental Assets (REAs)

The 12 REAs are shown in the table and map indicating their regional risks and opportunities. They cover six percent of the LMB in terms of area and are a representative selection of similar types of sites throughout the basin. Whilst the 12 REAs have been identified by the four MCs as a priority on the basin-wide scale, they do not preclude the need for all environmental assets, including those transboundary hotspots, to be eventually protected and managed.