UPCOMING EVENT: A Bridge Over Troubled Water: Anticipating and Reimagining the Future of Rivers in Southeast Asia [Online, 4 March 2022]

A panel for the International Conference of Chulalongkorn University’s Futures Literacy Week

10:45 – 12:15, Friday 4th March 2022 [Thailand time]

Rivers hold diverse meanings, values and relationships to people in Southeast Asia. They are defining features of the region’s geography, the lifeblood of diverse ecosystems, and a dynamic constant that pattern livelihoods with their seasonal cycles. The region’s rivers have historically been interwoven with a diversity of cultures, lives, and river-dependent livelihoods across the region. They have also been valued locally and globally for their remarkable biodiversity. In recent decades, rivers have been transformed by accelerating processes of economic modernization with the construction and operation of large-scale water infrastructure including irrigation schemes and large hydropower dams as human demand for water for agriculture, industry, hydroelectricity and domestic consumption has grown. This water infrastructure has changed seasonal and daily river hydrology, fragmented and degraded ecosystems, and had impacts on pre-existing livelihoods. Large-scale water infrastructure has progressively transformed river basins at the local to basin-wide scale, bringing benefits to some and harm to others. Simultaniously, there are also diverse practices on sustaining river-dependent livelihoods and protecting and recovering (or rewilding) ecosystems. In this context, there continues to be intense debate from diverse perspectives on the value and use of rivers in Southeast Asia for the present and future, with implications for social and ecological justice.

This panel will address the following questions: What are the possible futures for the region’s rivers? Who benefits and who loses out in each of these futures? Which ones are most desirable? How could desirable futures be attained?

Register here.

Panelists;

Chol Bunnag, Assistant Professor and Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Pianporn Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director, International Rivers Saw John Bright, Water Program Manager, Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) Raymond Yu Wang, Associate Professor, Center for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology Tarek Ketelsen, Director General, Australia – Mekong Partnership for Environmental Resources and Energy Systems (AMPERES) Yong Ming Li, Fellow, East West Center

Moderator;

Carl Middleton, Director, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Learn more about Chulalongkorn University’s Futures Literacy Week here.

UPCOMING EVENT: ARI E-Workshop on Transboundary Environmental Governance in Southeast Asia [Online, 4 December 2020]

15.40-17.30, Friday, 4 December 2020 via Zoom

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

The Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, is going to organize an inter-disciplinary workshop on "Transboundary Environmental Governance in Southeast Asia" to explore how, why, when and what forms of transboundary environmental governance are emerging in Southeast Asia.

The workshop will be conducted online via Zoom. To register, please visit this link here and the organizer will reply prior to the event with the Zoom link.

Panel IV. Hybrid Governance of Transboundary Commons

Chairperson: Zu Dienle Tan, National University of Singapore

Panelists:

• Beyond the Commons/Commodity Dichotomy in the Lancang-Mekong Basin: Implications for Transboundary Water Governance by Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University

• Unruly Fires: Nonhumans as Transboundary Actants in Governing Indonesia’s Wildfires by Rini Astuti, National University of Singapore and Yuti Ariani Fatimah, Nanyang Technological University

• A Multi-Scalar Political Economy Analysis of Thailand’s Widespread Urban Air Pollution by Danny Marks, Dublin City University

• Path Dependency of Land Use in Southeast Asian Peatlands by Lahiru Wijedasa, National University of Singapore

Abstract:

Beyond the Commons/Commodity Dichotomy in the Lancang-Mekong Basin: Implications for Transboundary Water Governance

Extensive hydropower construction across the Lancang-Mekong basin is changing the river’s hydrology and ecology, with implications for the availability and governance of common pool resources, as well as for riparian livelihoods. In this paper, I assess how the transboundary commons are being reworked as the river is transformed by large dam operation. The paper applies an analytical lens that seeks to move beyond a commons-commodity dichotomy in water related resource governance (Paerregaard and Andersen, 2019) to argue that at the present time the Lancang-Mekong River is neither fully commodified nor fully a commons, but rather a hybrid of the two. The paper will examine how transboundary hybrid governance regimes are reworking the hybrid commons, drawing attention to how states, communities, and even private actors, seek to maintain particular types of commons, whilst simultaneously either furthering or resisting commodification of some properties of the river. The paper will discuss the implications of this hybrid governance perspective for recent hydropolitics in the river basin and existing and new transboundary water governance institutions, namely the Mekong River Commission and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework.

For more information about this event, please visit the organizer’s webpage here.

UPCOMING EVENT: Virtual Conference on Sustainable Development and the Future of the Mekong [Online, 27 October 2020]

13.30-15.30, Tuesday, 27th October 2020 via Zoom

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

The Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP) is going to organize a virtual conference on "Sustainable Development and the Future of the Mekong". For those participants who wish to attend in this virtual event, please complete the reply form in link here: http://bit.ly/FutureMekong

Panel IV: Human Security Issues in the Mekong Context: Agriculture, Energy, Water and Environment

The topics of rising energy demand, food and water security as well as environment have become increasingly salient in recent years and interact directly both at present and in future with the sustainability of the Mekong. Panelists from the Lower Mekong states, drawing on their particular areas of expertise, will address one or more of these human security issues and examine what policy frameworks can be developed in order to avoid humanitarian and development crises in the subregion.

Panelists:

Instigator: H.E. Amb. Pou Sothirak, CICP Executive Director

• Dr. Mak Sithirith, Water Governance Specialist and Senior Research Fellow at CICP

• Mr. Lê Trung Kiên, Senior Researcher, Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

• Dr. Han Phoumin, Senior Energy Economist, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Jakarta

• Ms. Solinn Lim, Country Director, Oxfam Cambodia

• Dr. Carl Middleton, Deputy Director, Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Carl’s presentation will be on ”Water data democratization in the Mekong-Lancang basin”. For more information about this event, please visit the organizer’s webpage here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PAPER: Demarcating the public and private in hydropower in the Mekong Region

Virtual conference: The third biennial conference of the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN) - Contested Natures: Power, Possibility, Prefiguration

22-25 September 2020 , Virtual Conference at https://event.pollen2020.exordo.com/

Abstract for: Demarcating the public and private in hydropower in the Mekong Region

By Carl Middleton*

In this paper, I critically analyze the generation of plural demarcations of 'public' and 'private' through large hydropower projects in the Mekong region. Different conceptual and material meanings of public are considered, including the public sphere, the public interest, public goods, public knowledge, and various 'publics' as group identity, and in each instance how they relate to – or merge with – notions of private. I show that the meaning of public and private is contextual, relational, and often hybrid rather than distinct, for example regarding: the corporatization of state-owned enterprises; the construction and operation of large dams as various types of public-private partnerships; the merging of public and private sources of finance; and in the definition and legitimation of resource and property rights. These plural meanings of public and private hold consequences for water governance that requires critical problematization, including in relation to: the configurations of state and non-state actors and their power relations that shape how collective and individual interests are defined and acted upon; the types of knowledge that are generated, by who, and for what purpose; the spaces/ places within which projects, plans and policies are discussed, contested and governed; and how benefits, costs and risks are ultimately distributed amongst different groups within society. The paper will present case studies from large hydropower projects within the Lancang-Mekong basin, analyzed in the context of partially-fulfilled plans for economic regionalization and cross-border electricity trade.

* Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

This paper will be presented as a pre-recorded presentation. View more details on the conference here: https://pollen2020.wordpress.com/.

UPCOMING PANEL DISCUSSION: The Mekong runs dry? Governance in transition: A close look at current rules and geopolitics at play

17.00 - 19.30, Wednesday, 29th july 2020 at the SEA-Junction, 4th Floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

Development in the Mekong region, especially development trends and projects on the mainstream Mekong River itself, has long been a critical challenge and complicated issue for concerned parties and the public at large, and needs much understanding so that people can help one another find the way to share resources and live together in harmony. The attempt was first challenged since China started to develop the upper part of the river by building a cascade of dams on the river in early 1990s.

The challenge has become far critical especially in regard to the aspect concerning transboundary impacts as the Mekong countries become ambitious too and wish to build a cascade of dams, 11 so far, on the lower part of the river. At this point, they have been more than half way, as the sixth dam project, Sanakham, is subject to the regional prior consultation process, The question is; in times when development of the river has accelerated and posed a more serious threat, whether existing mechanisms to regulate water uses and mitigate impacts are efficient enough and catch up with such the speeding trend, and more critically, whether geopolitics in the region is still much at play and influences decisions made in regard to development in the region.

List of expert panelists: 

• Dr.Somkiat Prajamwong, Chairperson of the MRC Joint Committee for 2020 and Secretary General of the Office of National Water Resources

• Dr. Carl Middleton, Director of the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• Pianporn Deetes, Thailand Campaign Coordinator, International Rivers

• Premrudee Daoroung, Coordinator, Lao Dam Investment Monitor (LDIM)

• Orapin Lilitvisitwong, Editor, Thai PBS’s website, Decode

THE SESSIONS WILL BE PRESENTED IN THAI

In accordance with the COVID-19 regulation, please confirm your participation ahead of the event (limited seats available). You can confirm your participation through Bangkok Tribune News FB Messenger here.

You can also watch the event live at FB Live: Bangkok Tribune News FB Page.

For more information, please visit the event’s website here.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Confronting the Triple Trap in the Mekong Region: The Pandemic, Economic Downturn, and Climate Crisis

This panel is convened by the Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University for the Seventh South-South Forum on Sustainability (SSFS7) hosted by Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

Thursday 16 July 2020, start from 14:00-16:00 GMT+7/Thailand Time

In this session, we will discuss how the ‘triple trap’ - the pandemic, economic downturn, and climate crisis – have affected communities across the Mekong region, and how these challenges have been responded to by them, as well as by civil society and state. We also examine the long-term implications of the triple trap, asking what transformations have already occurred and what could happen in the future.

Speakers:

• "The Implications of Covid 19's Disruption of Global Supply Chains for Southeast Asia" by Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South

• "Inequality, migration and Covid 19 in Thailand and the Mekong Region" by Naruemon Thabchumpon, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• "The pandemic in Northeast Thailand and implications for communities and (post)development” by Kanokwan Manorom, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University

• "The impact of Covid 19 in rural Myanmar: Community, civil society, and state responses" by Nwet Kay Khine, Paung Ku, Myanmar

Discussant: Pianporn Deetes, International Rivers, Thailand

Moderator: Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and is a public session of the SSFS7 conference. Registration is required on the link below:

ZOOM WEBINAR REGISTRATION

On the registration page, please choose 'No Registration Fee Required' and 'Invited Participant' and choose the ’16 July: Workshops on Venezuela, Mexico and Mekong Region‘ to receive the Zoom link for this session.

For more information about this conference, please visit the conference website here.

UPCOMING PANEL DISCUSSION: Mekong Downstream Blues [Bangkok, 1 February 2020]

BANGKOK EDGE 2020

Change and Resistance: Future Directions of Southeast Asia

1-2 February 2020, grounds of Museum Siam and Chakrabongse Villas, Bangkok, Thailand

Talks 2: Mekong Downstream Blues

Saturday, 1 February 2020, 13:30-14:30, Main Building Museum Siam

The 4,350 km Mekong River rises in China and is the world’s 12th longest. Current unsustainable practices are a severe environmental threat to the livelihoods of tens of millions in downstream countries. Unegulated mega-dam projects and water extraction on the upper Mekong will cause untold hardship for downstream countries in all aspects of life - agriculture, fishing, and everyday living. Already negative impacts are being observed. The panel will examine the future of this mighty river.

Speakers:

• Carl Middleton, Director of Center of Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University

• Pianporn Deetes, activist and campaigns director International Rivers

• Sean Chadwell, Executive Director Luang Prabang Film Festival

Moderated by Jonathan Head, Southeast Asia Correspondent for the BBC.

For more information about the event, please visit this link here.

IN THE NEWS: แม่น้ำโขงที่ผันผวน และกลไกรับวิกฤต

[BangkokBizNews, 1 September 2019]

ดร.คาร์ล มิดเดิลตัน นักวิชาการผู้ติดตามภูมิศาสตร์การเมืองของแม่น้ำโขงมาอย่างยาวนานจากศูนย์ศึกษาการพัฒนาสังคม (Center for Social Development Studies) คณะรัฐศาสตร์ จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย กล่าวว่า สถานการณ์ความแห้งแล้งและความผันผวนของแม่น้ำโขงปีนี้ และข้อกล่าวหาที่พุ่งตรงไปที่บทบาทของเขื่อนของจีน ทำให้รัฐบาลและสาธารณะที่เกี่ยวข้องให้ความสนใจกับความสำคัญของแม่น้ำโขงในมุมของความร่วมมือและสันติภาพมากเป็นพิเศษ

นอกจากนี้ กรอบความร่วมมือแม่โขง-ล้านช้าง ซึ่งริ่เริ่มโดยจีนเองในช่วงสองสามปีที่ผ่านมา ก็ยิ่งขับเน้นบทบาทของจีนในภูมิศาสตร์การเมือง (Geo-politics) ของภูมิภาคมากยิ่งขึ้น ดร.คาร์ล กล่าว

เป็นความจริงที่ว่าหลากหลายรัฐบาลไม่ว่าจะเป็นจากญี่ปุ่น เกาหลี หรืออินเดีย ต่างก็พยายามโปรโมทความร่วมมือในระดับภูมิภาค แต่ ข้อริเริ่มลุ่มน้ำโขงตอนล่างของสหรัฐฯ (Lower Mekong Initiative) ซึ่งไม่ได้รวมจีนเข้าไว้ด้วยนี่เอง ที่ดูเหมือนจะกลายมาเป็นยุทธศาสตร์ที่ถูกตั้งใจให้มาช่วยคานอำนาจให้สมดุลย์ในภูมิภาคนี้ เมื่อพิจารณาถึงอิทธิพลทางการเมืองของสหรัฐฯ และการเผชิญหน้าอย่างเปิดเผยกับจีน ดร.คาร์ล กล่าว

ดร.คาร์ล กล่าวว่า เมื่อพิจารณาถึงกลไกในภูมิภาคที่มีอยู่อย่าง MRC, การได้ข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับสภาพน้ำจากจีนที่สมบูรณ์มากกว่านี้ รวมทั้งข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับระดับน้ำของแต่ละเขื่อนตลอดทั้งปี จะช่วยลดปัญหาและการตั้งข้อความสงสัยเกี่ยวกับเขื่อนของจีนลงไปได้มาก

ในช่วงสองสามปีที่ผ่านมา ดร.คาร์ล กล่าวว่า เขาเห็นพัฒนาการการทำงานของ MRC ในการติดต่อประสานงานกับจีนเกี่ยวกับการแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูลข่าวสารเกี่ยวกับสภาพน้ำได้ครบถ้วนขึ้น ซึ่งงานด้านนี้ควรเป็นสิ่งที่องค์กรดำเนินการอย่างต่อเนื่องต่อไปเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของภาระกิจหลัก

ดร. คาร์ล ยังกล่าวอีกว่า มันเป็นเรื่องที่สำคัญที่ประเทศต้นน้ำอย่างจีนและประเทศปลายน้ำของแม่น้ำโขงจะช่วยกันผลักดันกฎระเบียบที่ “ชัดเจนและเป็นธรรม” (Clear and Fair) ในการใช้ประโยชน์ร่วมกันของแม่น้ำโขง-ล้านช้าง รวมทั้งการแลกเปลี่ยนข่าวสารข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับสภาพน้ำ โดยเฉพาะในช่วงหน้าแล้ง และการดำเนินการของเขื่อนจีน

ในการดำเนินการของเขื่อน สมควรที่จะให้คล้ายสภาพธรรมชาติมากที่สุดเพื่อให้ประเทศท้ายน้ำได้รักษาสมดุลย์ของระบบนิเวศและวิถีชีวิตที่ต้องพึ่งพาวงจรธรรมชาติเหล่านั้น ดร. คาร์ล แนะนำ

ที่สำคัญ กฎเกณฑ์ต่างๆ เหล่านี้ควรต้องให้ประชาชนได้มีส่วนร่วมออกแบบ และเป็นที่ยอมรับของชุมชนในลุ่มน้ำ ถึงจะเป็นแนวทางที่จะช่วยแก้ปัญหาความขัดแย้งที่มีอยู่ของลุ่มน้ำได้ ดร. คาร์ล สรุป

Read more at this link here.

IN THE NEWS: "Flashing cash, China spearheads Mekong economic integration"

By Marwaan Macan-Markar [Nikkei Asian Review, 12 January 2018]

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang used a visit to Cambodia this week to strengthen China-led economic integration across mainland Southeast Asia. Li celebrated his embrace of multilateralism with an op-ed penned specially for a Cambodian newspaper, and basked in China's triumph with its five southerly neighbors, all of whom share the Mekong, Southeast Asia's longest river. 

"Being located downstream, the lower Mekong countries have long struggled to negotiate with China on its dam construction upstream," said Carl Middleton, director of the Center for Social Development Studies, at Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok. "A weakness of the current Lancang Mekong Cooperation Framework's approach is that there appears to be little interest by China to develop specific written rules for trans-boundary water sharing."

Jinghong Hydropower Station in Yunnan province  (Source: AP)

China's determined push into mainland Southeast Asia lays bare the limits of existing Mekong initiatives supported by Japan, the U.S. and other Western nations, all of which focused on the five basin countries but shut out China. They pose little challenge to China, and are short on the verbal fireworks over another body of water in Southeast Asia -- the disputed South China Sea.

Read full article at: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Flashing-cash-China-spearheads-Mekong-economic-integration?page=1