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Abstract: "Civil Society and Internationalized River Basin Management" Complete Paper (pdf 224KB)

This paper addresses three main trends in river basin management and the relationship between them. The first trend is toward a more integrated approach to river basin management, recognising the multiple values, multiple objectives and multiple stakeholders inherent in basin outcomes. The second trend is the increasing role of civil society in river basin management, as "manager" roles are conceptualized beyond professional, institutional, technocratic positions toward a notion of management that involves users and others with a stake in the multiple values of the river basin. The third trend is toward internationalisation of experience in river basin management, particularly through international cooperation and various processes of transferring river basin development approaches beyond national borders.

Transfer of river basin experience raises questions surrounding the applicability of one country's or river basin's experience to the situation of other countries and basins. At one level, the specific natural conditions of different river basins militates against simple models, but adaptation from temperate to tropical, semi-arid to monsoonal conditions presents the least intractable set of transfer problems. More far-reaching, but less explored, are the social, cultural, political and economic contextual issues in transfer of river basin management processes and models.

To date, a number of key river basin models have been quite influential. The Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Murray Darling Basin Commission amongst others have all served as models in one form or another for initiatives in river basins of other countries. We review the lessons exported from these basins, with special reference to the Mekong Basin, with a critical eye to their adaptability in other situations, exploring the assumptions that underlie the transfers. We question whether historically and socially embedded institutional and policy initiatives can readily be transferred from one context to another and conclude that the "model approach" to river basin development falls short in its failure to recognise river basin development and management as a negotiated process between civil society and the state.

© 2005 Australian Mekong Resource Centre