Topics - Open Development Mekong

Hydropower and foreign investment

Hydropower is considered one of the oldest and most established forms of renewable energy. Hydropower uses the natural flow of water to generate electricity and is found in all continents with major rivers. It is considered a cheap form of energy, factoring in the longer-term costs of utilising renewable energy and beyond initial construction costs, […]

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Pandemics

COVID-19 in the Mekong The novel coronavirus has triggered a global response of extreme measures. The immediate changes are countable. As of April 15, 2020, over 2 million cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been counted globally, with over 100,000 confirmed deaths. Tech tools to track the movement of infected people are being deployed […]

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Disasters

Introduction The Lower Mekong Countries (LMCs) are extremely vulnerable to disasters. Vietnam and Thailand were in the top ten countries in the world most affected by weather-related events over the period 1999-2018. In 2018 Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam all ranked in the top 50 countries most affected by weather-related events in the world. […]

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Gender and infrastructure development

Infrastructure development has both positive and negative impacts on many different communities. Such development can take up large amounts of land and require many people to move. They impact various segments of communities differently, especially women. For instance, women are rarely represented in public participation processes for infrastructure projects that significantly impact water, like dams […]

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SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals

SDG 17 – “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” – is made up of 19 targets and 25 indicators. It covers the elements making up means of implementation: finance (17.1-17.5), technology (17.6-17.8), capacity-building (17.9), trade (17.10-17.12), and systemic issues (17.13-17.19). SDG 17 is reviewed annually at the High-Level […]

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Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms – Public Private Partnerships

Overview In the past decade, infrastructure development has been a central focus of policymaking for countries in the Lower Mekong – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Financing these projects is a complicated and large undertaking. A multi-billion dollar airport project, for instance, may require loans from banks, equity from investors, and guarantees from the […]

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Case Study: Chiang Khong Special Economic Zone

Chiang Khong SEZ is a district of the Chiang Rai SEZ, all of which is located about 785 km north of Bangkok. This SEZ was developed here, a logistical business center for trade, to make it easier for goods to flow from China to Laos. It was planned by the Thai government to host agriculture and fishery, […]

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Regional Human Rights Mechanisms and Special Economic Zones

Introduction The Chinese government has accepted three recommendations (made by Ecuador, Peru, and Kenya) to address the human rights and environmental impacts of overseas Chinese investment and infrastructure projects. This signals a shift in the way that China has been approaching the human rights and environmental impacts of their projects. Yet, in ASEAN, including the […]

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SEZs, Infrastructure Development, and Official Development Aid

Infrastructure Connects SEZs SEZs need infrastructure to connect with neighbouring countries, improve quality of life, and promote trade and investment. Both soft and hard infrastructure is needed. Soft infrastructure includes institutional components such as education, healthcare and human capital, whereas hard infrastructure is the physical ones such as roads, bridges, and telecommunications. Usually the former can help […]

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Special Economic Zones in Context

Since the establishment of the Shenzhen SEZ in China during the 1980s, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as a development model have grown in popularity in Asia, alongside official development aid. SEZs have been promoted as being a resilient form of economic development, with the potential to involve local communities. They are targeted toward foreign investors, […]

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