Water resources development and impact assessment in the Mekong Basin: which way to go?

The Mekong River Basin is facing rapid changes, including intensive plans for water development. While the different development projects are considered to be important for economic development, the negative impacts that they are likely to cause for ecosystems and livelihoods are estimated to be remarkable. Yet, existing impact assessment processes seem in many cases to be inadequate to capture even the actual magnitude of the impacts at different levels. This article looks at the different impact assessment processes and their challenges in the basin. It is argued that impact assessment in this kind of dynamic and complex setting requires better coordination between assessments at different levels. Basinwide impact assessment would benefit from a more adaptive, multilevel approach that makes better use of assessments from local levels up to the regional level and builds on more participatory and interdisciplinary methods. Successful impact assessment also requires the recognition of the highly political nature of water development and related planning processes.