The Mekong River Commission (MRC), the Government of Lao PDR (GoL), the Government of Cambodia (GoC), and the World Bank (WB) are preparing a regional project called "Mekong Integrated Water Resources Management Project or M-IWRM" to be implemented over a period of 5 years (i.e. 2011-2015).

The development objective of the project is to establish key examples of integrated water resources management practices in the LMB at the regional, national, and sub-national levels, thus contributing to more sustainable river basin development in the Lower Mekong.

In order to achieve this objective, the project is designed to:

i) support implementation of tools and pilot activities for integrated water resources and natural disaster management in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) countries, together with improved communications and dialogue;

ii) improve the institutional capacity for IWRM in selected countries, including strengthening hydromet systems; and

iii) support improved floodplain management and aquatic resources management in areas of regional significance for regional environmental benefits and the enhancement of rural livelihood in pilot areas.

In line with the World Bank's safeguard policies, an initial assessment on potential environment and social impacts was undertaken by WREA by reviewing secondary data, field visits to the project areas, discussion with local authorities and local people, and the result is presented in the "Initial Environment and Social Examination (IESE)" Report(the final version). It is anticipated that the project is likely to cause minimal environmental and social impacts. This is due to the fact that the activities of Components 1 and 2 fall under the categories of technical assistance, training and capacity building and only activities under Component 3 might cause some environmental and social impacts from the rehabilitation of flood gates, irrigation infrastructure and rehabilitation of the fish hatcheries in selected provinces. In order to mitigate and reduce these potential adverse impacts associated with the Component 3 activities, the Environment and Social Management Framework (ESMF), the Compensation and Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) and the Ethnic Group Development Framework (EGDF) have been prepared by WREA to guide the relevant implementing agencies during the project implementation. The detailed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) will be also prepared on a case by case basis during the project implementation where necessary.

Download File

1. M-IWRM-CRPF Lao_Final version_15Oct2010

2. M-IWRM-ESMF Lao_Final Version_15Oct2010

3.M-IWRMP EGDF Lao_Final version_15Oct2010