The science foundation for the establishment of cooperation mechanism on trans-boundary water management

Abstract

The Mekong Delta (MD) is of socio-economic importance for both Vietnam and Cambodia. The trans-boundary dimension and respective management issues are highly relevant for the economic development and security of each country. Because the economic development of each country is different in the boundary region of MD, there are many kinds of natural hazard occurred in MD (including flood, drought, acid sulphate soils, and saltwater intrusion), the impact of upstream development, a myriad of flood controlling infrastructure, and the implications of climate change. To resolve these above problems and maintain the boundary security condition, the two countries areimplementing many cooperation and coordination mechanisms (CMs) at central and provincial levels. In this article, the current CMs between the two countries are presented to clarify the implementing status, effective and coherent level of the trans-boundary water management (TWM). From that, some recommendations will be proposed to set up a new CM closed with TWM for the boundary provinces in MD.