2019 Mekong Research Symposium

Information sharing and collaboration are fundamental for understanding transboundary river systems and for science-based decision making.  Across the Mekong River basin, poor data availability and discoverability, weak analytical capacity, and/or constrained mechanisms for joint decision-making present significant challenges for the region.  Improving cooperation is vital to promote broad-based and sustainable economic development, increase transparency and accountability, strengthen peace and security, and empower Mekong countries to determine their own prosperous futures.

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The U.S. Lower Mekong Initiative has been coordinating with partners and stakeholders across the globe through a series of activities and meetings designed to explore, discuss, and build consensus around possible solutions to broaden data access in the Mekong region.  Building on the first Mekong Research Symposium in 2018 and other related efforts, the U.S. Department of State and Mekong partners have continued to strengthen collaboration and build capacity in the region, including the launching of MekongWater.org, an information clearing house that provides an access point to relevant data tools and services as well as a reliable and secure mechanism for Mekong stakeholders to share data.

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The goal of the 2019 Mekong Research Symposium (MRS19) is to build communities of collaboration and innovation by discussing high-impact, data-driven projects and identify opportunities for partnership and integration.  Leveraging the resources of MekongWater.org, this four day event will convene researcher partners and implementers to: 1) prioritize activities for strengthening collaboration within the Mekong and with global partners; and 2) identify actions that the Mekong stakeholders can take to improve science-based decision making and management in the region.

Download all presentation files here.
Download 2019 Mekong Research Symposium Report.