The Mekong river, which runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the beating heart of mainland Southeast Asia, sustaining the livelihoods of around 66 million people. Yet the river is running dry, with its water levels at their lowest in 100 years. Its ecosystem nears the verge of collapse from the accumulative effects of climate change, dam-building and other man-made activities such as deforestation, sand mining, extensive irrigation and wetland conversion.
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Unpredictable and more frequent droughts, as well as floods and reduced river sediments, have wreaked havoc on riverside communities’ agricultural production and inland fisheries. Tonle Sap lake, which provides two-thirds of Cambodia’s annual catch of fish, has seen its resources dwindle in recent years. The Mekong River Commission estimated that by last year the amount of sediment reaching the Mekong Delta, which produces more than 50 per cent of Vietnam’s rice output, had fallen to one-third of what it was in 2007.
Vietnam attempted to put the Mekong on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ agenda last year when it was chair, but the prevailing view among most member states was that issues affecting the river would best be addressed through existing subregional frameworks, given that only some members are affected by its degradation.
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Cambodian fishermen see livelihoods threatened by climate change and dam activity
Cambodian fishermen see livelihoods threatened by climate change and dam activity
As a result, Asean remains a bystander to the multitude of environmental challenges and geopolitical dynamics that are unfolding in the Mekong basin, despite being the premier regional grouping for Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, new frameworks initiated by major powers have sprouted, in keeping with the growing economic, environmental and strategic importance they attach to the Mekong region. These include the China-led Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the Mekong-US Partnership, as well as others led by South Korea and Japan.
FOOD SECURITY
Asean ignores the impending implosion of the Mekong’s ecosystem at its peril, as the fallout will not be confined to the subregion. Food security challenges in the Mekong basin are a cause for region-wide concern since the countries along the river’s length are among the world’s biggest rice exporters. According to the International Trade Centre, more than 60 per cent of Southeast Asian maritime states’ rice imports in 2019 came from mainland Southeast Asia – Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia in particular. Countries that imported the most that year included Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia.
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Including Mekong issues on Asean’s agenda also had the support of more than 72 per cent of the 1,032 people surveyed by Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute for its “The State of Southeast Asia: 2021 Survey Report”. This sentiment was not only pronounced in mainland countries such as Vietnam (92.6 per cent), Thailand (87.8 per cent) and Cambodia (73 per cent), but also in maritime states such as Singapore (74 per cent), Malaysia (67.5 per cent) and the Philippines (67.2 per cent).
Asean’s detachment from the Mekong’s problems can no longer be justified with a subregional mindset given the trans-boundary effect on Southeast Asia’s food security that the river’s degradation causes. The Mekong ecosystem should also be an indispensable part of Asean’s climate change action plan, with adaptive measures taken by states along the river being synergised with similar undertakings elsewhere in the region.
