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Mekong River Commission
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an "...inter-governmental organisation that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekong River". Its mission is "To promote and coordinate sustainable management and development of water and related resources for the countries' mutual benefit and the people's well-being".
The origins of the Mekong Committee are linked to the legacy of (de)colonialism in Indochina and subsequent geopolitical developments. The political, social, and economic conditions of the Mekong River basin countries evolved dramatically since the 1950s, when the Mekong represented the "only large river left in the world, besides the Amazon, which remained virtually unexploited." The impetus for the creation of the Mekong cooperative regime progressed in tandem with the drive for the development of the lower Mekong, following the 1954 Geneva Conference which granted Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam independence from France. A 1957 United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) report, Development of Water Resources in the Lower Mekong Basin, recommended development to the tune of 90,000 km2 of irrigation and 13.7 gigawatts (GW) from five dams. Based largely on the recommendations of ECAFE, the "Committee for Coordination on the Lower Mekong Basin" (known as the Mekong Committee) was established in September 1957 with the adoption of the Statute for the Committee for Coordination of Investigations into the Lower Mekong Basin. ECAFE's Bureau of Flood Control had prioritized the Mekong—of the 18 international waterways within its jurisdiction—in the hopes of creating a precedent for cooperation elsewhere. and "one of the UN's earliest spin-offs", as the organization functioned under the aegis of the UN, with its Executive Agent (EA) chosen from the career staff of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The US government—which feared that poverty in the basin would contribute to the strength of communist movements—proved one of the most vocal international backers of the committee, with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation conducting a seminal 1956 study on the basin's potential. Another 1962 study by U.S. geographer Gilbert F. White, Economic and Social Aspects of Lower Mekong Development, proved extremely influential, resulting in the postponement of (in White's own estimation) the construction of the (still unrealized) mainstream Pa Mong Dam, which would have displaced a quarter-million people. The influence of the United States in the committee's formation can also been seen in development studies of General Raymond Wheeler, the former Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, the role of C. Hart Schaaf as the Mekong Committee's Executive Agent from 1959 to 1969, and President Lyndon Johnson’s promotion of the committee as having the potential to "dwarf even our own T.V.A." However, US financial support was terminated in 1975 and did not resume for decades due to embargoes against Cambodia (until 1992) and Vietnam (until 1994), followed by periods of trade restrictions. However, Makim argues that the committee was "largely unaffected by formal or informal U.S. preferences" given the ambivalence of some riparians about US technical support, in particular Cambodia's rejection of some specific types of assistance. However, the fact remains that "international development agencies have always paid the bills for the Mekong regime," with European (especially Scandinavian) nations picking up the slack left by the United States, and then (to a lesser extent) Japan.
The Mekong Committee was a forceful advocate for large-scale dams and other projects, primarily preoccupied with facilitating projects. For example, the 1970 Indicative Basin Plan called for 30,000 km2 of irrigation by the year 2000 (up from 2,130 km2) as well as 87 short-term tributary development projects and 17 long-term development projects on the mainstream. The Indicative Basin Plan was crafted largely in response to criticisms of the committee's "piecemeal" approach and declining political support of the organization; for example, the committee had received no funds from Thailand, normally the biggest contributor, during the 1970 fiscal year. The completion of all 17 projects was never intended; rather the list was meant to serve as a "menu" for international donors, who were to select 9 or 10 of the projects. While a few of the short-term projects were implemented, none of the long-term projects prevailed in the political climate of the ensuing decade, which included the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Several tributary dams were constructed, but only one—the Nam Ngum Dam (completed 1971), in Laos—outside of Thailand, whose electricity was sold to Thailand. According to Makim, Nam Ngum was the "only truly intergovernmental project achieved" by the committee.
This period was also marked by efforts to expand the jurisdiction and mandate of the committee between 1958 and 1975, which did not receive the consent of all four riparians. However, these efforts culminated, in January 1975, in the adoption of a 35-article Joint Declaration of Principles for Utilization of the Waters of the Mekong Basin by the sixty-eighth session of the Mekong Committee, prohibiting the "unilateral appropriation" without "prior approval" and "extra-basin diversion" without unanimous consent. However, no committee sessions were held in 1976 or 1977, as no plenipotentiary members had been appointed by Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam—all of which experienced regime change in 1975.
The rise of the xenophobic and paranoid Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia made Cambodia's continued participation unsustainable, so in April 1977 the other three riparians agreed to the Declaration Concerning the Interim Mekong Committee, which resulted in the establishment of the Interim Mekong Committee in January 1978. The weakened interim organization was only able to study large-scale projects and implement a few small-scale projects in Thailand and Laos, where the Dutch Government through the IMC funded fisheries and agricultural development projects along the Nam Ngum, as well as port facilities at Keng Kabao near Savannakhet; the institutional role of the organization shifted nonetheless largely to data collection. The 1987 Revised Indicative Basin Plan—the high-water mark of the Interim Committee's activity—scaled back the ambitions of the 1970 plan, envisioning a cascade of smaller dams along the Mekong's mainstream, divided into 29 projects, 26 of which were strictly national in scope. The Revised Indicative Basin Plan can also be seen as laying the groundwork for Cambodia's readmission. The Supreme National Council of Cambodia did request readmission in June 1991.
Cambodia's readmission was largely a side-show which masked the true issue facing the riparians: that the rapid economic growth experienced in Thailand relative to its neighbors had made even the modest sovereignty limitations imposed by Mekong agreements seem undesirable in Bangkok. Thailand and the other three riparians (led by Vietnam, the most powerful of the remaining three states) were locked in disagreement over whether Cambodia should be readmitted under the terms of the 1957 Statute (and more importantly, the 1975 Joint Declaration), with Thailand preferring to negotiate an entirely new framework to allow its planned Kong-Chi-Moon Project (and others) to proceed without a Vietnamese veto. Article 10 of the Joint Declaration, requiring unanimous consent for all mainstream development and inter-basin diversion proved to be the main sticking point of Cambodia's readmission, with Thailand perhaps prepared to walk away from the regime altogether. The conflict came to a head in April 1992 when Thailand forced the executive agent of the committee, Chuck Lankester, to resign and leave the country after barring the secretariat from the March 1992 meeting. This prompted a series of meetings organized by the UNDP (which was terrified that the regime in which it had invested so much might disappear), culminating in the April 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin signed by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in Chiang Rai, Thailand, creating the Mekong River Commission (MRC).
Since the dramatic confrontation of 1992, several seemingly overlapping organizations were created, including the Asian Development Bank's Greater Mekong Subregion (ADB-GMS, 1992), Japan's Forum of Comprehensive Development of Indochina (FCDI, 1993), the Quadripite Economic Cooperation (QEC, 1993), the Association of South East Asian Nations and Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry's Working Group on Economic Cooperation in Indochina and Burma (AEM-MITI, 1994), and (almost finalized) Myanmar and Singapore's ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (ASEAN-ME, 1996).
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Mekong River Commission
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an "...inter-governmental organisation that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and the sustainable development of the Mekong River". Its mission is "To promote and coordinate sustainable management and development of water and related resources for the countries' mutual benefit and the people's well-being".
The origins of the Mekong Committee are linked to the legacy of (de)colonialism in Indochina and subsequent geopolitical developments. The political, social, and economic conditions of the Mekong River basin countries evolved dramatically since the 1950s, when the Mekong represented the "only large river left in the world, besides the Amazon, which remained virtually unexploited." The impetus for the creation of the Mekong cooperative regime progressed in tandem with the drive for the development of the lower Mekong, following the 1954 Geneva Conference which granted Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam independence from France. A 1957 United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) report, Development of Water Resources in the Lower Mekong Basin, recommended development to the tune of 90,000 km2 of irrigation and 13.7 gigawatts (GW) from five dams. Based largely on the recommendations of ECAFE, the "Committee for Coordination on the Lower Mekong Basin" (known as the Mekong Committee) was established in September 1957 with the adoption of the Statute for the Committee for Coordination of Investigations into the Lower Mekong Basin. ECAFE's Bureau of Flood Control had prioritized the Mekong—of the 18 international waterways within its jurisdiction—in the hopes of creating a precedent for cooperation elsewhere. and "one of the UN's earliest spin-offs", as the organization functioned under the aegis of the UN, with its Executive Agent (EA) chosen from the career staff of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The US government—which feared that poverty in the basin would contribute to the strength of communist movements—proved one of the most vocal international backers of the committee, with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation conducting a seminal 1956 study on the basin's potential. Another 1962 study by U.S. geographer Gilbert F. White, Economic and Social Aspects of Lower Mekong Development, proved extremely influential, resulting in the postponement of (in White's own estimation) the construction of the (still unrealized) mainstream Pa Mong Dam, which would have displaced a quarter-million people. The influence of the United States in the committee's formation can also been seen in development studies of General Raymond Wheeler, the former Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, the role of C. Hart Schaaf as the Mekong Committee's Executive Agent from 1959 to 1969, and President Lyndon Johnson’s promotion of the committee as having the potential to "dwarf even our own T.V.A." However, US financial support was terminated in 1975 and did not resume for decades due to embargoes against Cambodia (until 1992) and Vietnam (until 1994), followed by periods of trade restrictions. However, Makim argues that the committee was "largely unaffected by formal or informal U.S. preferences" given the ambivalence of some riparians about US technical support, in particular Cambodia's rejection of some specific types of assistance. However, the fact remains that "international development agencies have always paid the bills for the Mekong regime," with European (especially Scandinavian) nations picking up the slack left by the United States, and then (to a lesser extent) Japan.
The Mekong Committee was a forceful advocate for large-scale dams and other projects, primarily preoccupied with facilitating projects. For example, the 1970 Indicative Basin Plan called for 30,000 km2 of irrigation by the year 2000 (up from 2,130 km2) as well as 87 short-term tributary development projects and 17 long-term development projects on the mainstream. The Indicative Basin Plan was crafted largely in response to criticisms of the committee's "piecemeal" approach and declining political support of the organization; for example, the committee had received no funds from Thailand, normally the biggest contributor, during the 1970 fiscal year. The completion of all 17 projects was never intended; rather the list was meant to serve as a "menu" for international donors, who were to select 9 or 10 of the projects. While a few of the short-term projects were implemented, none of the long-term projects prevailed in the political climate of the ensuing decade, which included the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Several tributary dams were constructed, but only one—the Nam Ngum Dam (completed 1971), in Laos—outside of Thailand, whose electricity was sold to Thailand. According to Makim, Nam Ngum was the "only truly intergovernmental project achieved" by the committee.
This period was also marked by efforts to expand the jurisdiction and mandate of the committee between 1958 and 1975, which did not receive the consent of all four riparians. However, these efforts culminated, in January 1975, in the adoption of a 35-article Joint Declaration of Principles for Utilization of the Waters of the Mekong Basin by the sixty-eighth session of the Mekong Committee, prohibiting the "unilateral appropriation" without "prior approval" and "extra-basin diversion" without unanimous consent. However, no committee sessions were held in 1976 or 1977, as no plenipotentiary members had been appointed by Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam—all of which experienced regime change in 1975.
The rise of the xenophobic and paranoid Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia made Cambodia's continued participation unsustainable, so in April 1977 the other three riparians agreed to the Declaration Concerning the Interim Mekong Committee, which resulted in the establishment of the Interim Mekong Committee in January 1978. The weakened interim organization was only able to study large-scale projects and implement a few small-scale projects in Thailand and Laos, where the Dutch Government through the IMC funded fisheries and agricultural development projects along the Nam Ngum, as well as port facilities at Keng Kabao near Savannakhet; the institutional role of the organization shifted nonetheless largely to data collection. The 1987 Revised Indicative Basin Plan—the high-water mark of the Interim Committee's activity—scaled back the ambitions of the 1970 plan, envisioning a cascade of smaller dams along the Mekong's mainstream, divided into 29 projects, 26 of which were strictly national in scope. The Revised Indicative Basin Plan can also be seen as laying the groundwork for Cambodia's readmission. The Supreme National Council of Cambodia did request readmission in June 1991.
Cambodia's readmission was largely a side-show which masked the true issue facing the riparians: that the rapid economic growth experienced in Thailand relative to its neighbors had made even the modest sovereignty limitations imposed by Mekong agreements seem undesirable in Bangkok. Thailand and the other three riparians (led by Vietnam, the most powerful of the remaining three states) were locked in disagreement over whether Cambodia should be readmitted under the terms of the 1957 Statute (and more importantly, the 1975 Joint Declaration), with Thailand preferring to negotiate an entirely new framework to allow its planned Kong-Chi-Moon Project (and others) to proceed without a Vietnamese veto. Article 10 of the Joint Declaration, requiring unanimous consent for all mainstream development and inter-basin diversion proved to be the main sticking point of Cambodia's readmission, with Thailand perhaps prepared to walk away from the regime altogether. The conflict came to a head in April 1992 when Thailand forced the executive agent of the committee, Chuck Lankester, to resign and leave the country after barring the secretariat from the March 1992 meeting. This prompted a series of meetings organized by the UNDP (which was terrified that the regime in which it had invested so much might disappear), culminating in the April 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin signed by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in Chiang Rai, Thailand, creating the Mekong River Commission (MRC).
Since the dramatic confrontation of 1992, several seemingly overlapping organizations were created, including the Asian Development Bank's Greater Mekong Subregion (ADB-GMS, 1992), Japan's Forum of Comprehensive Development of Indochina (FCDI, 1993), the Quadripite Economic Cooperation (QEC, 1993), the Association of South East Asian Nations and Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry's Working Group on Economic Cooperation in Indochina and Burma (AEM-MITI, 1994), and (almost finalized) Myanmar and Singapore's ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (ASEAN-ME, 1996).