ABSTRACT
The Mekong region has come to represent many of the important water governance challenges faced more broadly by the mainland Southeast Asia region. The development and environment issues raised in this complex arena of economic growth and integration highlight the importance of water, at all levels: locally, nationally and regionally. While technology and engineering dominated the period of rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s, moving into the 21st century there has been increased awareness among researchers of the urgent need to refocus thinking on the processes of decision-making through which the region's waters are utilized, developed, transported, degraded or conserved (Lebel et al, 2007b; Molle et al, 2009). Despite macroeconomic figures suggesting that the region is well on the way to poverty eradication, a disaggregated look at socio-economic development indicators tells a story of inequality across sectors of society (ADB, 2007a, b; UNDP, 2009; CIE, 2010). The need for access to clean water at predictable times is common to all in society, but access to the resource is predicated on access to the processes of governance that determine who gets water, in what quality and quantity, and at what time. Demands on the water resources have grown (ADB, 2007a, b), creating new situations of scarcity that are dependent not only on topography and climate, but also the capacity of societies to manage claims on the flows of water. Research has shown that when water crises occur, it is most frequently a result of continual mismanagement and insufficient governance (Biswas, 2010).
