Mekong River Commission

Foreword

It is my pleasure to introduce the Mekong River Commission's 2005 Annual Flood Report of the Mekong River Basin produced by the MRC's Flood Management and Mitigation Programme.

This report is the first of its kind and contains data and first hand reports of the 2005 flood season as it affected inhabitants of the Lower Mekong Basin countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The MRC has instigated this initiative because we realise how important it is to listen to the needs and the comments of the people of the basin. Their needs are our top priority. Our programmes are driven by these needs and we recognise that the comments and information gathered from those communities most affected by floods is essential if we are to provide solutions to the challenges facing the poorest people in our region. Our teams went into the field and worked with villagers, local authorities and those involved in flood management and mitigation at provincial levels. It is only by involving those at grass roots level that we can gain the real picture of how flood affects the people of our region, as often they are the ones who know the situation better than us. This type of fieldwork will enable the orientation of the FMMP to be based on a sound understanding of people's needs and problems.

The MRC's FMMP will update this report annually and will use data gathered to improve its flood management and mitigation activities. We think this will prove an invaluable tool in helping the MRC provide more accurate data for flood preparedness and also help our member countries in planning future land use.

As the population of the basin has grown, agriculture has intensified and land use has changed and this, in turn, has had an effect both on the flood patterns and the toll on humanity and the economy. Today the existing flood forecasting and warning systems in the Mekong River Basin are not yet adequate enough and there is a real and urgent need to improve the quality of flood information available. We need to develop professional solutions to the basin's needs. We need to create a highly efficient flood forecasting system, which must also include the ability to cope with flash floods and which will provide accurate, timely and easily understood data to all those people likely to be affected by floods.

Floods create a climate of insecurity and instability to socio-economic systems, making sustainable development, which builds on long-term planning and future-oriented investments, more difficult. Better flood preparedness will help to reduce people's susceptibility to floods by providing necessary data on flood hazards and flood occurrences as well as measures to cope with such natural hazards. It will contribute to stabilisation of socio-economic systems and allow for a long-term development perspective.

Taking into account that more than one-third of the predominantly rural population in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam live below the poverty line such devastating floods have a great impact on the fragile social and economic systems. They pose a major threat to people's lives and property. Flood preparedness is an important precondition for poverty alleviation and sustainable development in the Mekong region.

However we must also take into account that for many of the basin's people the annual flood is also a source of livelihood and sustenance. Beneficial impacts of a normal flood include rejuvenation of wetlands as breeding grounds for aquatic plants, fish and animals (vital sources of income and food for the poor); enrichment of soil by river-borne sediments and nutrients beneficial to agriculture; and replenishment of reservoirs and groundwater as reserves against dry season water shortages.

We need to help these people who are living with floods to be ready when disaster strikes and to plan ahead when implementing land use changes or introducing barriers and infrastructure.

The MRC's FMMP is a good example of how MRC is gradually adopting integrated water resources management at basin level, It complements the integrated nature of MRC's work receiving valuable inputs from the other MRC programmes such as the Basin Development Plan, the Environment Programme, the Information and Knowledge Management Programme, Water Utilisation Programme and the Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries Programme.

This MRC Annual Flood Report 2005 is a step toward building up an improved knowledge base of floods and their occurrences to better enact the aim of the FMMP - to prevent, minimise and mitigate people's suffering and economic losses due to floods while preserving the environmental benefits of floods.

I am sure it will be essential reading for all those involved in flood management work in the Mekong River Basin.

 

Dr Olivier Cogels
Chief Executive Officer
Mekong River commission Secretariat