MK3: On optimizing the management of cascades or systems of reservoirs at catchment level

This project is about scaling up to the catchment level the results obtained from optimizing the management of individual reservoirs. As such, it draws on results from MKs 1 and 2. It seeks to understand at the catchment scale the cumulative upstream and downstream consequences of management decisions taken for multiple reservoirs. It includes the study of land degradation and reservoir siltation processes

Session D5: Using a Waterfall System as a Natural Laboratory to Inform the Design of Fish Passes in the Mekong

Abstract: The Mekong Basin features 103 long distance migratory fish species contributing 800,000 tonnes per year to the regional inland fishery. At Khone Falls in southern Laos, the Mekong River splits into multiple channels and flows through numerous waterfalls that constitute a major obstacle to fish migrations across the basin. We present here the approach and methodology of a new research project using the Khone Falls bottleneck as a natural laboratory to inform the design of fish passes in the Mekong. This project is based on systematic gathering of local ecological knowledge, combined with hydrological measurements and river geomorphological characterization in multiple sites. The project will produce a matrix detailing, for the dominant Mekong migratory species, flow conditions and river conditions passable, preferred or not passable to fish. This information will help design fish ladders better adapted to native fish species, thus contributing to improved mitigation of the impact of hydropower dams on food security and fish biodiversity in the Mekong Basin

Planning in democratizing river basins:The case for a co-productive model of decision making

We reflect on methodologies to support integrated river basin planning for the Ayeyarwady Basin in Myanmar, and the Kamala Basin in Nepal, to which we contributed from 2017 to 2019. The principles of Integrated Water Resources Management have been promoted across states and regions with markedly different biophysical and political economic conditions. IWRM-based river basin planning is complex, resource intensive, and aspirational. It deserves scrutiny to improve process and outcome legitimacy. We focus on the value of co-production and deliberation in IWRM. Among our findings: (i) multi-stakeholder participation can be complicated by competition between actors for resources and legitimacy; (ii) despite such challenges, multi-stakeholder deliberative approaches can empower actors and can be an effective means for co-producing knowledge; (iii) tensions between (rational choice and co-productive) models of decision complicate participatory deliberative planning. Our experience suggests that a commitment to co-productive decision-making fosters socially legitimate IWRM outcomes