Glémet, Raphaël

Considering the increasing recognition of the role of benefit sharing in facilitating transboundary water cooperation, the IUCN BRIDGE GBM project is facilitating development of a Transboundary Benefit Sharing Strategy (TBSS) for the Meghna Basin. This report has been developed as an input to anchor dialogue on the development of the Meghna TBSS. This report has therefore attempted to create a compendium of the Meghna Basin, consolidating information on its geophysical, ecological and cultural value.

The Building River Dialogue and Governance Programme (BRIDGE, currently in phase 3) set out to do something quite new: to facilitate the development of international networks of Champions of water governance in its target basins. Selected individuals who were already active in water or environmental resources stewardship were invited to build skills around transboundary cooperation in a collective process at basin or regional scale, in order to help realise new visions for the governance of shared water resources.

In 2014, IUCN carried out a vulnerability assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Ramsar site at Beung Kiat Ngong in southern Lao PDR. The overall description of the wetland ecosystem and its components were drawn from the Ramsar profiles of the wetland and the recent biodiversity surveys.

In order to gain further experience on rights-based approaches (RBAs) to conservation, the project focused on undertaking a situation analysis in the Xe Champhone Ramsar Site in Lao PDR. It examined the under-researched issue of customary law governing natural resources, including its relationship with statutory law. This publication summarizes and analyses the findings of the field work. It also provides recommendations on how to incorporate customary law governing natural resources into the governance of Ramsar sites in the country.