Handout 1.5 – Focus of IRBP
Module 1, Session 1 – Focus of Integrated River Basin Planning
Key Message –The goal of Integrated River Basin Planning is to plan for the
sustainable use and development of the water and related resources of a river
basin.
Integrated River Basin Planning is consistent with the Mekong River
Commission’s Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development
of the Mekong River Basin.
It recognizes that the sustainable development of the people of a river basin is
linked to the sustainable use and development of the river basin’s water
resources.
Key Message – Integrated River Basin Planning focuses on the rivers of the
Basin but recognizes that the rivers are linked to groundwater and also to the
land. This is recognized by using the basin catchment as the planning unit.
A Basin is the catchment area or watershed of a large river. It includes all of
the tributary rivers and their catchment areas. A catchment is the land area on
which rainfalls and eventually runs-off either as surface water or infiltrates the
soil and becomes groundwater.
What is a River Basin ?
The
catchment or
watershed
which
contains the
river and its
tributaries
Towns
Dam
Agricultural
land
Highland
areas
Wetlands
Irrigation
Capture fishery
Because water falls on the land and then travels to the rivers, the land and the
water are linked. What happens to the land can potentially affect the river.
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Handout 1.5 – Focus of IRBP
Likewise at times of flood, water leaves the main channel of the river and
spreads across the floodplain, filling low lying areas and wetlands – again the
water and the land are linked.
The groundwater and the surface water are also linked. Depending on the
hydrogeology, surface water systems recharge groundwater systems or
groundwater systems provide flow into surface water systems.
Plans which recognize the link between the land and the water and between the
surface and the groundwater are based on Integrated Water Resource
Management.
Integrated Water Resource Management is also sometimes called:




Integrated Catchment Management
Total Catchment Management
Integrated Ecosystem Management
Integrated Watershed Management
Key Message – The Mekong River Basin is an International Basin. The land
and water resources of the Mekong Basin are shared between nations and
managed by different national governments. An effective international river
basin plan must provide benefits to all nations.
Because Basins are large catchments they often cross national borders, as is the
case for the Mekong River Basin. This makes the Mekong River Basin an
international river basin. Planning for an international river basin is different
than for a national river basin.
Different governments are responsible for the planning and management of
different parts of the Basin. To effectively plan a Basin which crosses national
borders, the plan must provide benefits to all of the nations in the Basin. The
benefits of nations acting together must be greater than the benefits of the
nations acting in their own self-interest.
Key Message – Six governments share the Mekong Basin and each makes a
contribution to its water resources.
The Mekong is one of a group of some of the world’s largest rivers that have
their origins among the snowfields of the Tibetan plateau. Here the Yangtze,
Salween, Irrawaddy, Red and Mekong rivers have their sources at between
4,500 and 5,000 metres above sea level from which they flow southwards
virtually as a parallel group into China and the province of Yunnan (which
interestingly is Chinese for “south of the clouds”). Here this family of great
rivers are separated by only a few hundred kilometres before taking divergent
directions; the Yangtze most spectacularly flows across the entirety of central
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Handout 1.5 – Focus of IRBP
China River, the Red River to Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin, the Salaween
and Irrawaddy to Myanmar and the Indian Ocean. The Mekong on the other
hand maintains its southerly course for some 4,500 km to the South China Sea,
draining a total catchment of some 795,000 km2 within six countries (MRC
Secretariat 2004 Water Utilization Program Start-Up Project: Overview of the
hydrology of the Mekong Basin, p.1). The Mekong Basin is shown in Figure 1.
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Handout 1.5 – Focus of IRBP
Key Message – Each of the six nations that share the Mekong Basin also
benefit from its water resources. The people of those nations benefit from the
quantity of water, the quality of water and also from the flow regime.
Many benefits come from water resources of the Basin. Benefits come from
both consumptive use (irrigation, hydropower, aquaculture, urban and
industrial use) and from non-consumptive use (wetting of floodplains,
provision of fish habitat). There are three aspects of water that need to be
considered:
 Water quantity is important for irrigation, navigation, controlling saline
intrusion, tourism, hydropower, capture fisheries and aquaculture.
 Water quality is important for aquaculture, urban and industrial uses.
 The water flow regime (the cycle of dry season and wet season flows) is
important for capture fisheries, floodplain and wetland productivity and
cultural uses.
Key Message – Any water resource development will change the way that
water is used. There will be a trade-off between the benefits from the current
use and the benefits from the use of the water with development. A good
Integrated River Basin Plan ensures that there are “net” benefits from water
resource development
All water in the Basin is currently used in some way, either for consumptive
use or for non-consumptive use. Any water resource development will change
the way that water is used. It may change the water quantity, quality or flow
regime or a combination of all three.
There will be a trade-off between the benefits from the current use and the
benefits from the use of the water with development. A good Integrated River
Basin Plan will ensure that water resource development provides a “net”
benefit, that is the benefits from the new use are greater than the benefits from
the current use.
A short of history of integrated water resources planning is given in Reference
1. Pieter van der Zaag, Hubert H.G. Savenije (2000) Towards improved
management of shared river basins: lessons from the Maseru Conference.
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