Greater Mekong Subregion
The Greater Mekong Subregion, (GMS) or just Greater Mekong, is a trans-national region of the
The Greater Mekong holds irreplaceable natural and cultural riches and is considered one of the world's most significant biodiversity hotspots. The region is an important food provider and the site of many large-scale construction projects with social and economic implications.[2]
Regional cooperation
For more than two decades, the six countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion have been working together under an economic cooperation program[3] to realize their vision of a prosperous, integrated, and harmonious subregion.
The GMS Program has adopted a three-pronged strategy (the three Cs):
- Strengthening connectivity through physical infrastructure and the development of economic corridors.
- Improving competitiveness through market integration and the facilitation of cross-border trade and travel.
- Building a sense of community by addressing shared social and environmental concerns.
The GMS Program, with the support of development partners, helps identify and implement high-priority subregional projects in a wide range of sectors: agriculture, energy, environment, health and human resource development, information and communication technology, tourism, transport, transport and trade facilitation, and urban development. More than US$20 billion in investments have been directly channeled through the program.[4]
Since 1998, the GMS program has been using economic corridors to promote economic growth and development. Economic corridors are investment areas, usually running along major highways, which connect centers of economic activity. Three main economic corridors are being developed in the Greater Mekong Subregion: the North-South Economic Corridor, the Southern Economic Corridor, and the
In September 2017, the 22nd Ministerial Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam endorsed the medium-term pipeline of priority projects from 2018 to 2022. The rolling pipeline includes more than 200 investment and technical assistance projects, which will require more than US$80 billion in financing.[6]
On 31 March 2018, the Sixth GMS Summit of Leaders in Hanoi adopted the Hanoi Action Plan and the Regional Investment Framework 2022.[7]
Landscape and biodiversity
The region has a diverse landscape including
The region's geographic variety and consequent variety of
The region's biodiversity is ranked as a top-five most threatened
Conservation
With the rapid development in the region, conservation efforts to protect natural resources, habitats, biodiversity and local cultures in the Greater Mekong have become urgent. The most pressing current threats are
Environmental threats
The harvesting and production of natural resources in the Greater Mekong Subregion is of significant economic importance, with the retail value of Mekong river fisheries alone estimated at more than US$4 billion annually.[11]
The Greater Mekong Subregion has become the site of large-scale construction projects and rapid economic development, including hydropower dams, mining, forestry, and industrial production.
Solar and wind energy offer solutions to the environmental and social challenges posed by coal power and hydropower projects.[15] The Mekong countries have substantial potential for solar and wind power. With the support of off-river pumped hydro energy storage, solar and wind power emerge as promising and sustainable alternatives for meeting the energy needs of the Mekong region.
Deforestation
In the 1970s, the Greater Mekong Subregion was one of the world's most densely forested areas. However, deforestation has reduced its forests by a third and is on a trajectory to lose another third by 2030.[16] The highest rates of deforestation in the GMS are found in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar.[17]
Deforestation in the GMS has many causes, including the expansion of unsustainable rubber and palm oil plantations, dam development, infrastructure development, illegal and unsustainable logging, forest fires, and natural resource exploitation.[18] In effect, deforestation has impacted the environment, biodiversity, and inhabitants of the region. The increased pollution due to run-off has made the water of the Mekong unhealthy for the fish and for human consumption, while riverbanks have become more susceptible to the pressures of climate change and flash flooding because of missing protection tree roots provide.[16] The loss of flooded forests[17] has also impacted the aquatic food chain, putting further pressures on the fishing industry and the 40 million people who take part in fishing-related activities in the GMS.[19]
The GMS is a hotspot for vector-borne diseases along its watershed, including malaria, but environmental changes such as deforestation have begun to change this reality.[20] A study that compared malaria rates in the northern and southern regions of Laos found that deforestation increases malaria rates in the short term (1–3 years), but lessens them dramatically in the long term.[21]
Deforestation in the GMS has the potential to become irreversible unless actions are taken and policy is implemented. Local community-supported initiatives, such as the many Community Protected Areas (CPAs) in Cambodia's Phnom Kulen National Park, have been established to stop illegal logging and poaching.[22]
Organizations
Organizations involved in the Greater Mekong Subregion include:
- Mekong River Commission (MRC)
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- Greater Mekong Subregion Academic and Research Network (GMSARN)
- Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET)
- United Nations
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO)
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
- Programme on Forests (PROFOR)
- Open Development Mekong, founded by the EastWest Institute
See also
- Asian Development Bank
- GMS Environment Operations Center
- Indochina
- Mekong Delta
- Mekong Institute
- Mekong River
- Subregion
- Mekong–Ganga Cooperation
References
- ^ "About the Greater Mekong Subregion". Greater Mekong Subregion. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
- ^ a b c "Greater Mekong". World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Retrieved 2018-10-08.
- ^ Bank, Asian Development (2015-05-18). Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program: Overview. Asian Development Bank.
- ^ "Overview of the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program". Greater Mekong Subregion. GMS Secretariat. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
- ^ "Economic Corridors in the Greater Mekong Subregion". Greater Mekong Subregion. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
- ^ "Greater Mekong Subregion Regional Investment Framework 2022: First Progress Report and Update". Greater Mekong Subregion. 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
- ^ "Joint Summit Declaration: 6th GMS Summit of Leaders". Greater Mekong Subregion. 2018-03-31. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
- ^ a b c "First Contact in the Greater Mekong: new species discoveries". WWF. 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
- ^ "WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THE PRIMATES OF THE GREATER MEKONG". WWF. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ "Stranger Species". WWF. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ^ a b "Green Economy in the Greater Mekong". WWF. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
- ^ "UNEP - Regional Office for Asia Pacific - Mainstreaming Environment through Regional Forums". UNEP. Archived from the original on 2015-09-20. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
- ^ "Mekong River Commission (MRC)". FAO. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
- ^ "Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in the Mekong Region". Program on Forests (PROFOR). 12 April 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ISSN 2296-665X.
- ^ a b Caroll, J. (2018). Pulse of the Forest: The State of The Greater Mekong’s Forests and the Everyday People Working to Protect Them. WWF.
- ^ ISSN 2073-4441.
- ISSN 1999-4907.
- ^ Fitrian Ardiansyah and Desak Putu Adhityani Putri, “Risk, Resilience and Human Security in Cross-Border Areas: The Greater Mekong Subregion, the Heart of Borneo and the Coral Triangle,” Human Security and Climate Change in Southeast Asia: Managing Risk and Resilience: Managing Risk and Resilience, eds. Lorraine Elliott and Mely Caballero-Anthony (Routledge, 2012): 131–50.
- PMID 21382335.
- PMID 33686939.
- PMID 30397457.
External links
- Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program official website
- Greater Mekong Subregion Core Environment Program (GMS-EOC)
- United Nations map of the Mekong Subregion
- World Wildlife Federation's GMS website
- A brief history of ASEAN's role in the GMS
- GMS nations meet to fight human trafficking Archived 2012-02-17 at the Wayback Machine
- Greater Mekong Subregion Environment Operations Center
- Asian Development Bank (ADB): Greater Mekong Subregion
- Greater Mekong Subregion Studies Center | Nakhon Phanom University
- Thailand's Learning Across Boundaries in the GMS