Bringing More Than Food to the Table: Precipitating Meaningful Change in Gender and Social Equity-Focused Participation in Transboundary Mekong Delta Wetlands Management

Abstract

The importance of healthy, functioning wetlands ecosystems in support of rural livelihoods in the Mekong Basin is generally well understood and documented over many years. A less well understood aspect are the conditions and factors that lead to the under-representation of certain social groups in water and wetlands decision-making processes and institutions. The groups most often recognised to be routinely under-represented (both quantitatively and qualitatively), marginalised or excluded from these governance processes have been women, ethnic minorities and poorer groups within society. This project aims to research the obstacles to and conditions surrounding the participation of women and other marginalised groups in decision-making platforms for improved wetlands resources management, which ultimately should lead to more socially-equitable water governance outcomes in the transboundary Mekong Delta.