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Vietnam trying to protect the Mekong region and international watercourses
Vietnam trying to protect the Mekong region and international watercourses
4/7/14
Vietnam has ratified a United Nations treaty on
transboundary rivers, and it is time for other Mekong
countries to do the same.
On May 19, Vietnam became
the 35th country to ratify the 1997 UN
Convention on Non-navigational uses of International Watercourses
(UNWC). This is an important global milestone because the treaty required 35
ratifications to enter into force. It will now come into effect on August 17,
2014.
Vietnam’s decision also sends an important message to the Mekong region. While the Mekong
River is already governed by an
international treaty – the 1995 Mekong Agreement – it has been wrongfully
misinterpreted at times by Laos
and other governments in the region as meaningless and unbinding.
The UNWC sets out
the rules for how governments are expected to share transboundary rivers in a
fair way, balancing the rights of upstream and downstream governments. These
rules come from decades of international practice across the world. Using
various mechanisms such as prior consultations, these rules provide a way to
resolve the tensions that can arise when an upstream governments wants to use
the river in a way that potentially causes significant harm to downstream
governments.
In other words,
the UNWC provides a possible way around the gridlock facing the Mekong River
Commission.
Indeed, the Mekong
Agreement is explicitly based on the draft UNWC. When the Mekong Agreement was
drafted, the governments took almost all of the language directly from the text
that would later become the UNWC. Unfortunately, the Mekong River Commission
has stepped away from using the UNWC as a beacon for how to interpret the
Mekong Agreement. If you examine the international law underlying the words
that were carefully chosen to be included in the Mekong Agreement, the treaty’s
requirements are clear. However if one ignores the underlying international
law, as the MRC has done at times, then the treaty appears ambiguous and open
to the misinterpretations that have been offered by Laos.
What this means in
practice has become alarmingly apparent through the handling of the Xayaburi Dam, the first project to be
submitted by Laos to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) for Prior Consultation
(PNPCA) under the Mekong Agreement. Instead of responding to the requests from
neighboring countries to conduct further studies, Laos moved forward unilaterally with the Xayaburi Dam,
beginning construction while Cambodia and Vietnam continued to voice strong
concerns about the transboundary impacts. By November 2012, the implementation
of the project had advanced so far that Cambodia
and Vietnam
had little remaining leverage to raise concerns. And yet there has still been
no official resolution to the PNPCA process.
Xayaburi Dam has
set a dangerous precedent for future cooperation in the Mekong,
which urgently needs to be addressed, particularly given the rapid progress
towards construction of the Don Sahong Dam. While the 1995 Agreement
aims to create an even playing field for upstream and downstream countries, in
practice Laos
continues to misinterpret the Mekong Agreement and international law,
demonstrating a lack of real commitment to shared regional interests.
Vietnam has been steadfast in raising concerns about the
impacts of both the Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams. During the PNPCA process for
the Xayaburi Dam, Vietnam called for a
moratorium on all dam building on the Mekong River for a period of 10 years,
as recommended by the MRC’s Strategic Environmental Assessment. However,
despite steadily voicing concern within the consultation process and now
calling for the Don Sahong Dam to also undergo Prior Consultation, Vietnam has
been hindered by regional politics and delicate diplomatic relationships as
well as perceived ambiguities in the 1995 Mekong Agreement.
By ratifying the
UNWC, Vietnam is making a
public call for change, for improved governance and more equitable
decision-making in the Mekong, and sending an
important message that international rivers must be managed by and for all
riparian nations, not just one.
At the second MRC
Summit held in Ho Chi Minh City in April, the
Prime Minister of Vietnam urged Cambodia,
Vietnam and Laos to also
sign on to the Convention. We hope that the Lower Mekong countries will follow Vietnam’s example for the sake of the Mekong River,
its future and the people who depend on it. Through this action, Vietnam has offered a fair and equitable solution
to the Mekong conflict. We hope that the other
countries will listen.
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All comments [ 10 ]
I absolutely agree, Vietnam should participate in the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Use of International Watercourses.
Vietnam’s admission to the 1997 UN Convention will help prevent the strong flow of water to the lower Mekong region, improve irrigation networks and protect the environment.
Mekong river is essential to people in region, it feeds millions of lives by providing fishes and water for agricultural production
So far, Mekong river has been threatening by planned dams on the main stream. If these dams are constructed, the river would die and the people would have no resources for their daily lives
The upper countries should give up with their planned dams and unblock the river, make the river flow free and give life back to the people as normal
For hundreds of years, the Mekong River has been a vital passageway for people and goods. Today, the Mekong is still an essential means of transportation for many of the people living in the region and plays an increasingly important role in international trade and tourism. For example in Viet Nam, roughly 73% of cargo tonnage and about 27% of passengers travel by water annually
Cambodia, Laos and other countries that share the river should follow Vietnam to join 1997 UN Convention on Non-navigational uses of International Watercourses to improve the water governance in the region
Vietnam shows itself to the international community as a responsible player, I think we will be loved by international friends for our efforts.
Stop damming the Mekong river! It’s urgent!
We need to strengthen regional cooperation, particularly among the riparian countries, both upper and lower, through multilateral and sub-regional mechanisms
Your comments