the 4th Mekong Dialogue on “Water, Food, Energy, and Climate Nexus: Revisiting Development of the Mekong Region”

The Mekong Program, under the Asian Center for International Development (ARCID), School of Social Innovation, Mae Fah Luang University, along with the Institute of Developing Economies - Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO), and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Southeast Asia Regional Office hosted the 4th Mekong Dialogue: The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus: Revisiting Development in the Mekong Region" at the Coordinating Office of Mae Fah Luang University, Bangkok, Thailand from February 27-28, 2023. 

The Dialogue focused on the Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus: Revisiting the Development in the Mekong Region. On top of enlightening open remarks from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nantana Gajaseni, the Vice President of Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand, and Ms. Mayumi Murayama, the Executive Vice President of the Institute of Developing Economies - Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO), Japan, participants from Mekong member countries and Australia, China, and Japan held wide-ranging discussions on a number of areas:

• trans-boundary water management, with focus on exchanges of water data via community peer-review to predict drought and flood in the sub-region
• food and land security, highlighting issues relating to shared governance using a commons-based, community-based and evidence-based approach
• environmental security and biodiversity conversion in the sub-region 

The Mekong dialogue is a forum of a 2.5 track consisting of participants from academic, think tanks, IOs, and (I)NGOs from Mekong countries as well as extra-regional countries which play an essential role in the development of the region, such as Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and the US, to discuss on the issue of transboundary water resources management in the region. Active participation from the senior staff of Asian Vision Institute, Cambodia, embassies of Australia and the United States of America in Thailand, Global Environmental Institute, China, GRET-Laos, IDE-JETRO, Innovation Network International - Thailand, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-security – China, JICA, Mekong Environmental Forum - Vietnam, Mekong Region Land Governance, Myanmar, PACT, Chulalongkorn University, Mae Fah Luang University, Thamamasat University, and Yunnan University, and online attendees consequences constructive and practical discussion with forecasting to practical solutions at the 4th Mekong Dialogue.