Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy. 2012. Presentation from Session 3: Planning and Decision Support Tools to Deal with the Nexus

1. Planning and Decision Support Tools to
Improve Water, Energy and Food Nexus in
the Mekong

2. Overview
1. Status and Challenges in Mekong region
2. Prospective development in Mekong region
3. Opportunities to improve water, energy and food
security
4. Nexus related issues in the context of Mekong
countries
5. Past applications of decision support tools
6. Potential applications of integrating WEAP&LEAP
7. References

3. 1. Status and challenges in Mekong
1. Transforming the GMS connectivity or transport corridors
2. Exploiting emerging opportunities in a reurgent and dynamic Asia
3. Global warming and climate change: likely to aggravate pressure on
resources; so add to the vulnerability of people and ecosystems.
4. Potential negative effects of increased connectivity: biodiversity
protection, natural disaster like flood and drought, migration
5. Urbanization: likely to increase around 50% by 2015 (unhabitat.org)
6. Poverty: percent of people living below the poverty line is 29% in
Vietnam and 36% in Cambodia, for examples.
7. Environmental degradation: due to unsustainable exploitation, lax
regulations, rapid economic and demographic changes, urbanization

4. 2. Prospective development in the Mekong
1. Asian Highway and trans-Asia railway: Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand and Vietnam
2. GMS transport corridor: Southern transport corridor from Phnom Penh to Ho
Chi Minh highway, North-South economic corridor and East-West transport
corridor
3. Regional power transmission line: there will be more expanded throughout
GMS by 2015-2020
4. GMS regional hydropower: generation capacity will increase quickly over the
next decade, about 60 gigawatts (GMS-EOC, 2012); hydroelectric project in
Xayaburi, Laos; Kamchay hydropower in Kampot, Cambodia
5. Telecommunication backbone: services from Aranya prated, Thailand to
Poypet, Cambodia and Nongkhai, Thailand to Vientiane, Laos.
6. Flood control and water resource management
7. Coordinating Mekong Tourism activities

5. 3. Opportunities to improve water, energy and
food security (1/2)
• Water, Energy and Food (WEF) is connected and is a multi-
dimensional issue, and hence requires multi-pronged approach
• Nexus approach can potentially support a transition to
sustainability, by reducing trade-offs and generating additional
benefits that outweigh the transaction costs associated with
stronger integration across sectors.
• Such gains should appeal to national interest and encourage
governments, the private sector and civil society to engage.

6. 3. Opportunities to improve water, energy and
food security (2/2)
1. Increasing resource productivity
2. Using waste as a resource in multi-use systems
3. Stimulating development through economic
incentives .
4. Governance, institutions and policy coherence
5. Benefiting from productive ecosystems
6. Integrated poverty alleviation and green growth
7. Capacity building and awareness raising

7. 4. Nexus related issues in the Context of
Mekong countries
• Hydropower development
• Development of biofuels
• Irrigation Development
• Sewerage Treatment
• Agriculture structure
• Energy for fertilizers
• GHG mitigation, low carbon
economy, renewable energy
• Waste treatment
Source: SEI, 2011.
• Water purification
• Etc.

8. 5. Past applications of decision support tools
WEAP (http://www.weap21.org/index.asp?action=205&all=1)
- Water Productivity Assessment: Mekong River Basin approach (2005-
2008)
- Water Poverty Modeling in the Mekong River Basin (2005-2008)
- Establishing methodologies for water allocation in Bang Pakong River
Basin
LEAP
- Energy saving potential in Vietnam: an analysis with LEAP model
- Renewable energy utilization and CO2 mitigation in the power sector: a
case study in selected GMS countries (http://rdo.psu.ac.th/sjstweb/journal/33-3/0125-
3395-33-3-305-313.pdf)
- Cambodia’s initial national communication: under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate change
(http://lowemissionsasia.org/sites/default/files/pdf_file/khmnc1.pdf)

9. Wind turbine in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Hydropower in Laos
Source: http://www.eco-business.com/features/wind-energy- Source: http://concept-bank.com/?page_id=629
for-vietnams-mekong-delta/

10. Energy consumption Electricity generation
Source: http://www.eco-business.com/features/wind-energy- Source: http://www.chaoprayanews.com/
for-vietnams-mekong-delta/

11. WEAP Application in Northeast Thailand
Schematic view of Huai Sai
Bat River Basin, Thailand
Results of Development
Scenarios

12. Exploring Mekong Region Futures –nexus on food,
water and energy investment
NE Thailand Futures Study
Objective: introduce multiple-
objective oriented planning based
on information on the food-
energy-water nexus and climate
change, land-use and migration,
in order to create planning
scenarios and the design of a
reasonable policy and decision
making options.
Source: CSIRO, 2010

13. Bioenergy Development in Southeast Asia
Studies reveal palm oil impacts in Southeast Asia, propose EU
policy changes
• Palm oil grown in tropical countries is
one of the main sources of biodiesel.
• Indonesia and Malaysia, which
together produce 90% of the world’s
palm oil.
• A major driver of recent growth in palm
oil production is the EU market for
biofuels.
• The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive A palm oil plantation in Indonesia, the world’s top producer.
Flickr/Rainforest Action Network.
(EU-RED) has set a target of meeting
10% of the European transport sector’s SEI research shows that as
energy needs with renewable energy production has soared to meet
by 2020 increase in the use of global demand, driven in part by the
biodiesel, which accounts for over EU-RED, communities have been
three-quarters of EU biofuels
harmed. EU policies should be
consumption.
revised to ensure sustainability!

14. 5. CONCLUSIONS
• The Nexus is helping us to
adopt a more holistic approach
and to begin to understand the
integrated functionality of
landscapes.
• There is a need for cooperation,
notably the need for trusted
dialogues between
communities, science,
corporates and decisions-
makers
• To enhance water, energy and
food security in a green
economy by increasing
efficiency, reducing trade-offs,
and building synergies across
sectors

15. 6. References
1. http://www.set.or.th/th/news/thailand_focus/2012/Day1/20120829_1430_Cr
aig_ADB.pdf
2. http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?typeid=19&catid=465&cid=2375
3. http://gis.gms-eoc.org/GMS2020_WS-MATERIALS/4.%20David_Roland-
Holst_GMSFood_Water_EnergyRHHN120213.pdf
4. http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-
files/case_study_china_investments_in_cambodia.pdf
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_River_Basin_Hydropower#Hydropowe
r_infrastructure_under_construction
6. http://www.ipsnews.net/2006/04/transport-trans-asian-highway-to-
prosperity/

16. THANK YOU!
Contact:
Orn-uma Polpanich
Research associate
Stockholm Environment Institute - Asia (SEI-Asia)
15th Floor, Witthyakit Building, 254 Chulalongkorn University,
Soi Chula 64, Phyathai Road, Pathumwan Sub-district,
Pathumwan District, Bangkok 10330, THAILAND.
Tel: +66 (0)2 251 4415 (ext. 101)
Fax: +66 (0)2 251 4419
E-mail: chayanis.k@sei-international.org
http://www.sei-international.org