The 3S river basin (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam) : creating spaces for cooperation through multi-level dialogue and capacity building

The Sesan, Sre Pok, and Sekong rivers, referred to as the 3S river basin, are shared by three countries and constitute a significant part of the Lower Mekong river basin. The BRIDGE project implements water diplomacy in transboundary basins, and is working in the 3S to build and strengthen water governance capacity. The 3S river basin contains the only transboundary tributaries of the Mekong covering over 78,650 square kilometres. Rapid development of hydropower and mining which has prompted renewed efforts to improve cooperation, challenged by the fact that the three countries it is shared between have vastly different political and institutional arrangements. As a result of these challenges, BRIDGE uses a combination of facilitating dialogue, information tools, and capacity building bringing together and strengthening stakeholders across local, provincial, national, and regional levels.