Research Directions for IWMI-SEA in the Mekong basin.
The soil, water and socio-economic circumstances of the countries in the region are diverse and offer an exceptionally broad canvas of challenges that IWMI research would contribute towards finding appropriate solutions. Curbing environmental degradation is a major challenge with Asia being among the ecologically most endangered region of the world. In the last three decades alone it has lost 50 per cent of its forest cover and 50 per cent of its fish stocks and about one third of agricultural land classified as degraded. These are challenges that will require innovation and investment to address.
The strong land and water skills within IWMI-SEA, offers the opportunity to build research activities that reflect the complementary skills of the various disciplines within the group. For the region as a whole there are three key broad areas on which cuurently and future directions of research will focus on in the greater Mekong Basin.
| Enhancing the management of land and water resources within a rapidly changing economic development environment
|
In a rapidly changing development environment of the greater Mekong Basin , land and water resources are undergoing significant degradation associated with over exploitation and in appropriate land use practices. From the highly incised catchments of the uplands where inappropriate management practices have resulted in accelerated sediment discharge to water bodies and consequent water quality issues, to the exploitive cropping practices of rainfed lowland systems, significant resource degradation has occurred having a negative impact on productivity and livelihoods of communities and individual farmers. Lateral expansion of the agricultural sector is no longer tenable. The focus of current and future research in this area deal with issues of land and water degradation through an understanding of the processes that contribute to the development of these issues; and the development and promotion of new and innovative approaches that focus on enhancing the productivity of these degraded resources. In a socio-economic environment that is undergoing rapid change, there is a need for the development of policies and strategies (smart incentives) that would promote the adoption of more sustainable land and water practices. This will be an integral component of research activities in this area. Read more about the projects ...
|
|
|
|
Environmental Flows and Fisheries |
|
|
Recent significant infrastructure developments and demands for water by various sectors of the economy within the Mekong Basin has raised concerns over environmental flows and water quality required to maintain aquatic biodiversity and functionality of these ecosystems. Further, changes in the flow regimes of river due to the development of diversions structures have significantly influenced captured fisheries that form the major livelihood component for communities in the basin. The region as a whole has numerous wetlands that are of significant ecological value that are under threat from anthropogenic exploitation. Current and future research will focus on the sustainable utilization of these resources that maintain the integrity of ecosystems as well as providing livelihoods for communities that dependent on them. Read more about the projects ...
|
|
Participatory Irrigation Management and Development (PIMD) |
IWMI has a long history in participatory irrigation management and development and the formation of functional farmer water user associations. With the liberalization of economies in the region there is a move by state based structures to transfer the operation and management of irrigation systems to farmer water user associations. It is generally perceived irrigation transfer will result in improvements in the socio-economic welfare of communities that are dependent on these resources. This activity will have a specific focus in Cambodia where the program will focus on building on the achievements, tools developed and progress of the first phase; continue to strengthen the National level capacity; assist with enhancing the government capacity at the provincial levels; strengthen the capacity of other PIMD implementing organizations (e.g. NGOs, etc); and enhance the capacity of Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and the secretariat to coordinate and rationalize PIMD implementation in Cambodia . Further, IWMI will continue its involvement in the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO) through its activities associated with benchmarking river basin organizations. Read more about the projects ...
|
|
Sne Irrigation Scheme - Main Canal Rehabilitation by PIMD
|
|
| |
