SUMERNET flagship book now available

The Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) has produced a new book titled Climate Risks, Regional Integration, and Sustainability in the Mekong Region.

The book brings together multi-country empirical case studies, each of which included significant engagement with boundary partners, to analyze the impacts of, and ways to adapt to, climate risks and unsustainable growth in a highly interdependent region.

Rapid economic growth coupled with current and projected climate risks are challenging livihoods and ecosystems in the Mekong Region. In some locations unsustainable development has created or deepened vulnerabilities to climate change as well as global, regional, and transborder socioeconomic processes. More accessible and appropriate information is urgently needed on ways to reduce the negative aspects of development and adapt to the impacts of climate change in this region.

This book improves our understanding of the linkages between drivers, opportunities, and constraints on the sustainability of the Mekong Region's ecosystems - at the transborder, sub-national, and local levels. Economic integration, urbanization, and climate change have impacts that vary greatly among locations. Hence, one key lesson in this book is that it is important to tailor policies and actions to specific places and communities, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable sections of the population, and the capacities of local actors. These multi-site and -country case studies provide much stronger tests of the merits and limitations of common policies than studies carried out in a single country, underlying the benefits of collaborative research.

Citation: Lebel, L., C.T. Hoanh, C. Krittasudthacheewa, R. Daniel (Eds.) (2014). “Climate risks, regional integration and sustainability in the Mekong region.” SIRD: Kuala Lumpur.

The book is available in the SUMERNET Secretariat at the SEI-Asia Centre in Bangkok and soon in key bookshops in the Mekong region. The book can also be ordered directly from the publisher SIRD in Malaysia.

Price: US$ 18. Please see attached flyer and order form for more details.

For more information please contact Agus Nugroho (agus.nugroho@sei-international.org) or Rajesh Daniel (rajesh.daniel@sei-international.org).

SUMERNET Secretariat

15th Floor, Witthyakit Building, 254 Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn Soi 64, Phyathai Road, Pathumwan

Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

Tel: +66 225 144 15 Email: secretariat@sumernet.org

Contents

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Eric Kemp-Benedict

1. Introduction – Pursuing Sustainability in the Mekong Region

Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa, Louis Lebel and Chu Thai Hoanh

I. Policy Think Pieces

2. Energy, Economy and Climate Change in the Mekong Region

Lailai Li and Tatirose Vijitpan

3. Valuing Ecosystem Services in the Mekong Region

Penporn Janekarnkij and Orn-uma Polpanich

4. Transboundary Flows of Resources, People, Goods and Services in the Mekong Region

Louis Lebel, Sopon Naruchaikusol and Muangpong Juntopas

5. Urbanization and Sustainable Development in the Mekong Region

Carl Middleton and Dusita Krawanchid

II. Cross-border Collaborative Research

6. Vulnerability of Livelihoods in Flood-prone Areas along the Cambodian-Vietnam Border

Nguyen Duy Can, Seak Sophat, Vo Hong Tu, Khom Sok Khom, and Chu Thai Hoanh

7. Increasing the Benefits from Contract Farming to Rural Households in the Mekong Region: Insights from Studies of Rice and Sugar

Saykham Voladet, Yanyong Inmuong, Aung Win Htut, Winston Set Aung, Men Prachvuthy, Louis Lebel, Graham Eagleton, Pippa Featherston, and Angela Bush

8. Quantifying Carbon Emissions Derived from China’s Investment and Trade in the Lower Mekong Countries

Hu Tao and Cao Chunmiao

9. Transboundary Fish Trade in the Lower Mekong Basin: Impacts on Fisheries and Rural Employment in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand

Raphael Glemet, Eleanor Elbert, Hap Navy, and Douangkham Singhanouvong

10. Communicating Water-related Climate Change Risks: Lessons from a Multi-tool and Multi-country Study in the Mekong Region

Ngo Cong Chinh, Yvette Clarke, Nguyen Hung Manh, Louis Lebel, Sakaradhorn Boontaveeyuwat, Seak Sophat, Bach Tan Sinh, Nguyen Tri Khiem

11. Climate Change Impacts on Food Security and Livelihoods: Case Studies from Lao PDR and the Philippines

Linda M. Peñalba, Dulce D. Elazegui, Outhai Soukhy, Mayo Grace C. Amit, Felino P. Lansigan, and Francis John F. Faderogao

12. The Impact of Urbanization on the Hinterlands: Perceptions of Households in the Hinterlands of Khon Kaen, Thailand and Vang Vieng, Lao PDR

Maniemai Thongyou, Bounthavy Sosamphanh, Thanapauge Chamaratana, Monchai Phongsiri, and Louis Lebel

13. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Tourism Service Providers in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Hue, Vietnam

Sivanappan Kumar, Kyoko Kusakabe, Pravakar Pradhan, Pujan Shrestha, Srujana Goteti, Tran Anh Tuan, Ekawit Meteejaroenwong, Trinnawat Suwanprik, and Khanh Linh

14. Evaluation of the Impact of Pilot Payments for Forest Environmental Services: Case study in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam

Bui Duc Tinh, Tran Huu Tuan, and Phong Tran

15. Integrating Community-based Participatory Carbon Measurement and Monitoring with Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS in REDD+ MRV systems

Jay H. Samek, Usa Kinhom, David L. Skole, Pornchai Uttaruk, Teerawong Laosuwan, Phung Van Khoa, Sithong Thongmanivong, Chetphong Butthep, Do Xuan Lan, and Nguyen Xuan Giap

16. Getting to the Source:  Community planning and Costing of Adaptation Interventions in Vietnam and Lao PDR

Caitlin Corner-Dolloff and Julian Moll-Rocek

III. Synthesis

17. Place-based lessons for Regional Economic Development and Sustainability

Louis Lebel, Chu Thai Hoanh, and Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa

List of Figures and Tables

Bibliography

Contributors

Index