Publications

Technical Report – Phase 1 of the Joint study on the Changing Patterns of Hydrological Conditions of the Lancang-Mekong River Basin and Adaptation Strategies

This is the 1st phase report of the Joint Study on the Changing Pattern of Hydrological Conditions of the Lancang-Mekong River Basin and Adaptation Strategies, conducted by the MRC and LMC Water Center. The report identifies two key factors that contribute to hydrological changes in the LMB. First are natural factors, including precipitation patterns, evaporation rates, soil properties and topography. Second are human activities, such as infrastructure development, water management, land cover and land-use changes. These two factors interact and influence the amount, timing and water distribution within the Basin.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.bd0zhw | Published on: 05 Oct 2023 | Language: English

MRC Annual Report 2022
Key Achievements and Impact Stories

The Annual Report 2022 opens a window onto the Mekong River Commission’s most significant achievements of 2022 and sheds light upon the progress that the MRC aims for in 2023. 2022 was the second year of implementation of the MRC Strategic Plan 2021–2025, which contributes directly to the Basin Development Strategy 2021–2030. After two difficult years slowed by the global COVID pandemic, MRC work with its four Member Countries largely returned to normal. The five Strategic Priority areas of the BDS: Environment, Social, Economic, Climate Change, and Cooperation aim to achieve 11 BDS Outcomes and 30 Outputs by 2030. More specifically, a total of 95 routine and non-routine activities are deemed necessary to achieve these Outputs. Each section of the content contained in this report then illuminates these five prioritized dimensions: the challenges being addressed, the objectives achieved and the advances yet to come.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.b8uuu5 | Published on: 25 Aug 2023 | Language: English

Handbook on Mainstreaming Gender into the Mekong River Commission’s Core Functions and Activities: A Guidebook for a Gender-Responsive and Resilient Lower Mekong River Basin

The Handbook for Gender Mainstreaming into the MRC Core Functions and Activities offers a supporting tool – or a guiding note – to assist the MRC to effectively integrate a gender perspective into all aspects of its work, from the development, update and application of strategic tools, procedures, normative guidelines, studies, and organizational strengthening to designing and advocating for joint actions. It also provides a working aid to integrate gender perspectives during the course of the BDS 2021–2030 and SP 2021-2025 implementation, and beyond

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.ajutqn | Published on: 30 Dec 2022 | Language: English

The status and trends of riverine plastic pollution in the Lower Mekong River Basin

This report explains the status and trends of plastic waste pollution in the Lower Mekong River Basin from the perspectives of plastic pollution itself as well as the frameworks and capacity of each Member Country to address the issues of plastic pollution. The report estimates that in 2020, its four countries had produced about 8 million tons of plastic waste – of which, some 70% to 90% were plastic bottles, plastic bags and Styrofoam. Yet this debris does more than adversely affect the Mekong and its tributaries.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.aqrsb2 | Published on: 19 Dec 2022 | Language: English

Joint Environmental Monitoring Programme at Two Mekong Mainstream Dams: The Don Sahong and Xayaburi Hydropower Projects

The report provides an overview of activities conducted and resulting recommendations from monitoring two mainstream dams: Don Sahong and Xayaburi hydropower projects. It summarizes the pilot monitoring results from the first pilot site report for each hydropower project and the Combined Annual Report in a way that illustrates how findings in hydrology, sediment, water quality, aquatic ecology, and fisheries can be interpreted together. Based on the findings, it provides some initial suggestions for mitigation and adaptive management of construction and operation of hydropower projects. It also concludes with recommendations for revisions to the guidelines and monitoring protocols that can then be incorporated into the JEM Programme document.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.aqrs7o | Published on: 19 Aug 2022 | Language: English

Mekong Low Flow and Drought Conditions in 2019–2021
Conditions in 2019–2021: Hydrological Conditions in the Lower Mekong River Basin (Technical Report)

This technical report unravels the underlying drivers of the extremely low flows and drought based on an analysis of the available data the MRC has collected. Based on the findings, it suggests potential measures to address and mitigate the impacts of the hydrological droughts and storage on the Basin’s people.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.qx5yo7 | Published on: 13 Jan 2022 | Language: English

Annual Mekong Hydrology, Flood and Drought Report 2019: Drought in the Lower Mekong Basin

This paper reports on the condition of the Basin in 2019, including its hydrology/water flow, flood and drought. The year saw recorded unprecedented flow conditions in the Mekong mainstream and from tributaries. Erratic climatic fluctuations were also found, ranging from extreme dry to extreme wet within short periods of time. The report ends with key recommendations, looking forward.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.ajutoy | Published on: 27 Dec 2021 | Language: English

2018 Lower Mekong Water Quality Monitoring Report

This reports on the results of the monitoring of water quality across 48 stations in the LMB. The report shows the water quality in the Mekong and Bassac Rivers was still of good quality with the slight improvement compared with 2016. There was only a small number of measurements of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) that violated the MRC Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Human Health (WQGH) and the MRC Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life (WQGA). Most exceedances were recorded in the Delta. Of a slight concern was the DO level at Chau Doc, which violated the WQGH for all sampling occasions causing water quality for the protection of human health to be downgraded from ‘good’ in 2017 to ‘moderate’ in 2018.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.qx5ynz | Published on: 19 Nov 2021 | Language: English

Social Impact Monitoring and Vulnerability Assessment (SIMVA) 2018
Report on 2018 baseline survey of the Lower Mekong mainstream and floodplain areas

SIMVA 2018 is the third survey of its type and was conducted in the same sites and used the same methods of collecting primary household and village data, as the SIMVA 2014 and 2011 exercises. Covering 2,800 households in 200 villages the 2018 survey shows that communities in the Mekong mainstream corridor were still dependent on the river resources for their livelihoods, income, and well-being. As such, they are still vulnerable to changes in the Mekong water resources. However, their overall dependency has decreased with other, non-water resources-related livelihood activities playing increasingly important roles. From 2014 to 2018 the percentage of households engaging in fishing decreased across the region from 50% to approximately 37%. The study also indicates growing incidence of flooding, possibly as a result of climate change and other factors, including water infrastructure development. Government support in livelihood diversification and disaster coping strategies is essential and there is much room for improvement in this regard.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.qx5ynt | Published on: 18 Oct 2021 | Language: English

Status and Trends of Fish Abundance and Diversity in the Lower Mekong Basin during 2007–2018

The report is the first ever large-scale study to consider both spatial and temporal variations of fish abundance and diversity in the LMB, using the MRC’s long-term fisheries monitoring data. The monitoring was conducted daily between 2007 and 2018 by professional fishers at 38 stations along the Mekong mainstream and its major tributaries. But only 25 sites were selected for the study due to incomplete data. Eleven of the 25 monitoring stations were in Cambodia, four in Lao PDR, and five each in Thailand and Viet Nam. The study found 617 fish species, belonging to 21 order and 80 families in the LMB from 2007 to 2018. Some 37,530,460 individuals, corresponding to 1,095,848 Kg of fishes were collected. Temporally, both fish diversity and catch have increased during the survey period in the Tonle Sap and the Mekong upstream in southern Laos and Thailand, informing the high diversity of these areas and that sampling effort is still growing.

Download | DOI: 10.52107/mrc.qx5yo0 | Published on: 18 Oct 2021 | Language: English

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