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The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 and represents a third chapter in the Mekong Project's organizational history. The MRC's predecessors - the Mekong Committee (1957-78) and the Interim Mekong Committee (1978-95) operated under difficult circumstances, yet made many contributions to transboundary river basin planning and international diplomacy. The MRC's 2001 Work Programme represents a shift in Mekong basin planning from the era of the Mekong Committee. This shift is largely embodied by a change from a project-oriented focus to an emphasis on better management and preservation of existing resources. The MRC is in a position to help address the related issues of population growth, environmental preservation and regional security. In doing so, the MRC will benefit from the programmes and international collaboration established by its predecessors.
KEY WORDS: Mekong River, Mekong River Commission, regional security, transboundary water management
Introduction
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was founded in 1995 to coordinate water resources planning and development across Southeast Asia's lower Mekong River basin. The MRC's member nations are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The MRC's technical and planning arm, the MRC Secretariat, is based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Commission's predecessor organizations were the Mekong Committee (1957-78) and the Interim Mekong Committee (1978-95). Through scientific investigations and smaller-scale water resources projects, these organizations promoted international dialogue and cooperation in a region marked by conflict and war.
The Mekong River Commission faces many of its predecessors' challenges, such as widespread poverty in the basin. In addition, emerging issues such as dam construction on the upper Mekong River in China and increasing demands on water and environmental resources in the lower Mekong basin may affect regional security. This paper reviews the Mekong and Interim Mekong Committees' experiences in cooperative Mekong River basin planning, then reviews the Mekong River Commission's 2001 Work Programme. It also assesses the extent to which the Commission is merging useful, traditional programmes with contemporary planning approaches and regional realities, including the issues of food security and political security.
The Mekong River basin
The Mekong River's headwaters lie in the southeastern Himalaya Mountains of China's Tibetan region (Figure 1). From there, the Mekong flows to the south and east on its way to the South China Sea. The Mekong flows...