Reclaiming community spaces in the Mekong River transboundary commons: Shifting territorialities in Chiang Khong,Thailand

In Northern Thailand's Chiang Khong district, which lies along the banks of the Mekong River and the Thai‐Lao border, an community‐based environmental movement under the leadership of the Rak Chiang Khong conservation group emerged in response to processes that have appropriated territories traditionally used by locals for state‐led economic exploitation. The Rak Chiang Khong has put up fierce opposition to large‐scale development projects such as the China‐led navigation project, which planned to blast ecologically and culturally significant rapids, and hydropower dam development along the Mekong River. As a result, local‐level governance arrangements of the transboundary commons in Chiang Khong have shifted to counter threats both within and beyond the borders of Thailand. Through adapting fishing arrangements, engaging in community‐led research and establishing village conservation zones, overlapping forms of territorialisation have emerged in response to socio‐ecological changes to the river. These new forms of territorialisation are produced by complex configurations of political, cultural, and ecological histories, politicaleconomic changes, and transboundary dynamics. These territorial strategies have been key towards reclaiming the transboundary commons of the Mekong River for riparian communities, and providing a deeper understanding of the values that drive community involvement in the transboundary environmental governance of the Mekong River.     

The unseen transboundary commons that matter for Cambodia's inland fisheries: Changing sediment flows in the Mekong hydrological flood pulse

This paper focuses on the ‘the unseen transboundary commons’ of residues, nutrients and mobile matter associated with the annual flood pulse that support Cambodia's inland fisheries. We develop the idea of biophysical geopolitics concentrating on political‐socio‐natures rather than the purely biophysical. In the context of multiple mega‐projects in the Basin, we argue the flood pulse has become increasingly compromised, which is an urgent socio‐ecological security issue facing the Mekong region. Scores of livelihoods are dependent on the hydrological flood pulse via the reproduction of the inland fisheries, and a diversity of wetlands resources. Our paper builds on cross‐comparative research focusing on a geo‐strategic mouth of the Tonle Sap (Chhnok Tru) and a transborder area along the Mekong main‐stream (Stung Treng, Cambodia – Champasak, Laos area). By viewing biophysical matter as becoming trans‐border geopolitical matter, we wish to emphasise the critical socio‐ecological character of the hydrological flood pulse, and the urgency of cumulative spatial and temporal changes affecting diverse wetlands communities. Loss of wild capture fisheries and the more unpredictable flows of the Mekong are signs of an emergent and dangerous era of increasing environmental insecurity.     

Southeast Asia's transboundary haze pollution: Unravelling the inconvenient truth

This paper examines the political intricacies inherent in the management of Southeast Asia's transboundary haze pollution. It argues for a scalar perspective in understanding the complexities of the haze problem. The so‐called ‘inconvenient truth’ is unravelled by teasing out some issues in the national and regional political ecologies, and the challenges of synchronising co‐operation at the national, regional and global scales. Discussion shows that the ‘environment’ takes on different meanings at each scale, and both Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) need to recognise this in order to engage more effectively with the transboundary environmental issue. Specifically, inadequate management of forest resources in Indonesia, ASEAN's principle of ‘non‐interference’ and a lack of a holistic ecosystem perspective are amongst some of the interconnected issues addressed. The paper calls for a greater awareness of structural weaknesses in the management of forest resources and a change in ASEAN's environmental paradigm to a more holistic ecosystem perspective that prioritises not just environmental and human health, but also a healthy and sustainable ecosystem.     

Greenhouse gas implications of replacing fish protein with beef in the lower Mekong Basin

At least 88 new hydropower dams are planned between 2010 and 2030 in the lower Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia as a source of electricity with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Dams result in declines in fish populations that will need to be replaced with other sources of protein for food security. We make the first assessment of emissions should beef production substitute for lost fish in Cambodia and Laos. We assessed two sources of emissions. Replacing lost fish with beef would require as much as 12 million hectares of new pasture. Forest clearing for pastures in Cambodia and Lao PDR would initially emit between 0.859 and 3.015 giga‐tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (Gt CO₂‐eq.). Methane emissions from additional cattle would add at least 0.0013 Gt CO₂‐eq./year to Cambodia's total greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to a 20% increase. In Laos at least 0.0005 Gt CO₂‐eq./year would be released, a 4–12% increase in annual emissions. We demonstrate that activities displaced by hydropower developments could significantly increase emissions. It shows how enclosure of commons at local scales impacts upon other common pool resources at different scales, raising questions for sustainable and equitable transboundary governance.     

Dams and state security: Damming the 3S rivers as a threat to Cambodian state security

State security is a key concern for countries when dealing with transboundary river governance issues. While there is a considerable amount of literature on transboundary river cooperation in general, there has been little on transboundary cooperation and the damming of shared rivers in terms of their impacts on state security. As a result, this article seeks to answer the following questions in relation to the lower Mekong basin: (i) How is the damming process embedded in transboundary cooperation? (ii) How does this type of cooperation contribute to peace and security in the study area – the 3S river basin? And, (iii) how can transboundary cooperation be improved so as to address state security issues? To answer these questions, this study reviews the relevant literature and uses two case studies, one of the Yali Dam in Vietnam and the second of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Cambodia. In doing so, the article examines dam developments in the lower Mekong basin, their environmental and human security impacts, and how they contribute to or threaten state security in Cambodia. It concludes that dams on international rivers induce insecurity among states downstream and that cooperation between riparian states is key to addressing this insecurity.     

The Salween River as a transboundary commons: Fragmented collective action,hybrid governance and power

Viewing the Salween River as a transboundary commons, this paper illustrates how diverse state and non‐state actors and institutions in hybrid and multi‐scaled networks have influenced water governance in general, and large dam decision‐making processes in particular. Putting power relations at the centre of this analysis and drawing on the conceptual lenses of hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, we show the complexity of the fragmented processes through which decisions have been arrived at, and their implications. In the context of highly asymmetrical power relations throughout the basin, and the absence of an intergovernmental agreement to date, we argue that hybrid networks of state and non‐state actors could be strategically engaged to connect parallel and fragmented decision‐making landscapes with a goal of inclusively institutionalising the transboundary commons and maintaining connected local commons throughout the basin, foregrounding a concern for ecological and social justice.     

Fixing flammable Forest: The scalar politics of peatland governance and restoration in Indonesia

Peatland fires and the impact of transboundary haze are often intertwined with socio‐environmental externalities of neoliberal forest governance and overlapping systems of resource property rights in Indonesia. New peatland governance strategies are emerging to address fires and haze by reorganising peatland management using a more ecologically relevant scale that territorialises peatland according to its hydrological characteristics. Employing the concept of the eco‐scalar fix, this paper interrogates rescaling peatland governance as a strategy to address the socio‐ecological crisis associated with the conversion of peatland into mono‐agricultural land. However, rescaling peatland governance entails the risk of merely displacing socio‐environmental crises to areas considered less ecologically important rather than addressing them. Drawing on a case study of a peatland restoration in Riau, Indonesia, this paper shows how emerging hybrid forms of peatland governance can address the environmental externalities that have unintentionally been created. This hybrid form of peatland governance has pressured actors across multiple types of property to rework the ways that environmental commons are controlled and accessed.     

Mission possible? Chinese provincial congress deputies’ involvement in an environmental dispute in Guangdong

Abstract: Despite its rubber‐stamp image, the involvement of China’s unicameral legislature (People’s Congress, PC) in the country’s environmental governance has become more visible in recent years. Using an environmental dispute taking place in the county‐city of Sihui, Guangdong Province as a case study, this paper examines how the congress deputies at the provincial level were involved in the domestic environmental controversy, which comprised a landmark congressional inquiry into the provincial environmental authorities. Through dissecting the practice and behaviour of the Guangdong Provincial PC and its deputies in relation to the environmental dispute settlement, the paper recognises the inquiry as an achievement test, and unravels the political and institutional roots of China’s environmental governance from a congressional perspective.     

Laos' hydropower development and cross‐border power trade in the Lower Mekong Basin: A discourse analysis

Increasing demands for energy to boost the Mekong economies have attracted the keen interest of riparian countries for hydropower development. This is evidenced by extensive investment in hydropower projects across the region over the last few decades. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders, including officials from Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, private sector actors, civil society organisations and academics, as well as secondary data from public and policy resources, this paper aims to examine how the government of Laos' (GoL) decisions in hydropower development are influenced by regional energy dynamics, and how these shape the country's future energy development. The paper argues that the GoL's decisions on hydropower development are highly dilemmatic, given the current limited institutional capacity in hydropower governance and the accelerating evolution of alternative energy in neighbouring countries. While uncertainty in power markets is recognised, this places greater pressure on new hydropower projects as to how much power could be sufficiently produced and exported. The paper calls for GoL's policy considerations on the development and planning of alternative energy to secure the sustainable and equitable use of water resources as stipulated in the 1995 Mekong Agreement.     

Co‐creating an Open Government Action Plan: The Case of Sekondi‐Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly,Ghana

This paper contributes to the limited literature on open government initiatives at the subnational level in developing countries. It examines the motivations of actors in a local government authority to utilize the capabilities of various stakeholders to overcome constraints in cocreating an action plan for open government reforms. This empirical analysis utilized qualitative fieldwork conducted in Sekondi‐Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana's third largest local government. The findings demonstrate that a confluence of citizen demand for openness, and willingness within the governance stakeholders, are motivating the pursuit of open government reforms. Viewed through an open innovation framework, we argue that achieving good governance through information transparency, public participation, and accountability reforms is hindered by the institutional environment. Ghana's subnational governments need national level commitment to provide the resources, mandate, and authority to become truly “open.”     

Understanding ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: Papua New Guinea, with its heavy dependence on natural resources, limited economic development in the past two decades, poor record of governance and high‐profile separatist conflicts such as the Bougainville civil war, appears to be an exemplar of the ‘Resource Curse’ theory – the notion that natural resources actively undermine economic development. Using a number of examples from a range of scales, this paper argues that what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea are actually better conceived as conflicts around identity and social relationships. The very different conceptualisation of natural resources in most Melanesian societies – as elements of the social world as much as any external environmental sphere – means that resources become a conduit for local social and political agendas and tensions to be expressed. The nature of traditional conflict in Melanesian societies is discussed as a guide to the better management and resolution of what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea.     

We're 15 years behind Africa,Asia and Latin America!: Fair Trade meets the Pacific

Fairtrade market growth is characterised by expansion and exclusion in terms of producer opportunity. This paper draws producers in the Pacific region into the debate, analysing the development context among these small‐island developing states and, specifically, the practices and principles of four ‘ethical’ enterprises. The analysis reveals that the unique and complex context in which these organisations operate is at odds with Fairtrade's requirements, standards and assumptions. The paper highlights the need for contextually relevant requirements and principles, and the likelihood of alternative governance arrangements and actors, for an inclusive Fairtrade system and market in the region.     

Urban water supply and local neoliberalism in Tagbilaran City,the Philippines

The aim of this paper is to explore the processes and outcomes of neoliberalism in relation to urban water supply in the city of Tagbilaran, the Philippines, in order to provide a nuanced account of (an) actually existing hybrid neoliberal space. Using Bakker's typology of market environmentalist reforms in resource management as a guiding frame to link this case to a bigger ‘neoliberal’ conversation, I distinguish how reforms to resource governance at the national level, coupled with changes in the ways in which resource management institutions and resource management organisations function at the local level have acted to constitute local practices of neoliberal governance. Local articulations of (national and supranational) neoliberal and development discourses are revealed as a means for reconceptualising the role of the state and the emergence of new forms of hybrid governance in Tagbilaran. Analysis of the operation of BWUI, a public/private water utility, and the politics of privatisation/private sector participation enables a closer inspection of how water and water services are politicised and resisted by local publics.     

The geopolitical economy of Thailand's marine plastic pollution crisis

Currently approximately 9 million tons of plastic enter the world's oceans annually. This is a major transboundary problem on a global scale that threatens marine wildlife, coastal ecologies, human health and livelihoods. Our concern in this paper is with the environmental governance of marine plastic pollution that emanates from Thailand, the sixth biggest contributor globally. By zooming in on land‐based polluters in Thailand, we highlight both the systemic nature of the marine plastic problem and the relative impunity with which drivers of transboundary environmental harm function at all levels of governance. Drawing from 19 interviews conducted with actors from the public, private and non‐profit sectors, we examine three stages of the problem: production, consumption and waste management. We found that three major barriers prevent Thailand's government, private sector and citizens from engaging in the sort collective action needed to reduce marine plastic pollution. They are: (i) insufficient incentives to enact political change; (ii) scalar disconnects in waste management; and (iii) inadequate public and private sector ownership over plastic waste reduction. As the state alone cannot change corporate and consumer behaviour, we argue that multi‐stakeholder efforts across organisational scales of governance and administrative boundaries are needed to address the barriers.     

FIJI Water,water everywhere: Global brands and democratic and social injustice

Over recent decades, the demand for bottled water has grown exponentially at the global scale. In the marketing of such products, discourses of purity and paradise have often been invoked. Marketed as a ‘Taste of Paradise’, FIJI Water has gained enormous international success as an ostensibly clean and green product. Celebrity endorsements – reaching as high as US President Barack Obama – have abounded, driven in part by the belief that the corporation is both environmentally and socially responsible. This paper describes and analyses the rise of FIJI water and critically assesses the sources and impacts of its economic success. It goes on to explore its local social and environmental impacts in the context of a country that has been subject to waves of democratic crises where the fate of the polity has been influenced by FIJI Water's actions. FIJI Water has come to assume the role of development trustee in the villages most affected by the growth in exports. The democratic crises in Fiji has given FIJI Water profound developmental influence, and this has brought both costs and benefits at the local socio‐environmental scale.     

‘Water war’ in the Mekong Basin?

The Mekong River system provides a crucial source of natural resources for riparian nations. However, the increasingly rapid pace of hydro‐development in the Mekong Basin is threatening the integrity of the river system, posing a real concern for Lower Basin states, which are particularly dependent on the basin. This scenario has led to warnings of armed conflict, or even ‘water war’, between riparian states. Certainly, the expanding scale of hydro‐development can be expected to continue increasing interstate tensions in the Mekong region; but are these tensions really likely to escalate to armed conflict? This paper explores this question by drawing on the water and conflict theory of Aaron Wolf. Ultimately, this paper concludes that interstate tensions over Mekong hydro‐development are unlikely to generate armed conflict. This is in part due to the strategic impracticality of such a conflict as well as the presence of a river basin management institution. Most compellingly, though, armed conflict is unlikely because the economic imperative shared by Mekong states is better served by cooperation – or at least non‐interference – than conflict, over regional hydro‐development. In closing, the paper urges that the study of water and conflict in the Mekong Basin be refocused at the intrastate level.     

Losing ground? Tuvalu,the greenhouse effect and the garbage can

Abstract: Greenhouse‐induced sea‐level rise (SLR) threatens coral atolls and particularly the few atoll states, such as Tuvalu. This central Pacific island microstate has minimal economic development options, and has increasingly perceived emigration and remittances as a development strategy, despite restricted opportunities. Internal migration, in search of wage employment, has brought almost half the national population to Funafuti atoll, with negative local environmental consequences. Short‐term scientific data show no evidence of SLR in Tuvalu, but the Government of Tuvalu has argued that there is visual evidence of SLR, through such consequences as increased erosion, flooding and salinity. Global media have increasingly emphasised a doomsday scenario, with Tuvalu as synecdoche and symbol of all threatened island environments. Environmental problems of diverse origin have been entirely attributed to distant processes causing SLR, in terms of ‘garbage can anarchy’ or a ‘conspiracy narrative’, and thus to distant causes. The Tuvalu Government has consequently sought compensation from, and migration opportunities in, distant states. The construction of apparently imminent hazard has potential domestic political and economic advantages, but environmental costs.     

Positionality and protocol in field research: Undertaking community‐based investigations in Samoa

This article considers the experiences of a Samoan female geographer undertaking community‐based field research in her home country, and identifies some lessons for researchers working in similar circumstances. The paper suggests that ethical behaviour in research is ‘place‐specific’, and there is therefore a need to employ culturally sensitive and ‘location‐specific’ methodologies when undertaking community‐based research fieldwork. For the lead researcher, growing up in Samoa played a significant role in gaining an understanding of a set of robust and effective procedures to evaluate citizens' resilience to climatic and other environmental challenges. Fluency in everyday and more formal local languages, and awareness of local differences, each with multi‐layered connections to local communities, understanding cultural nuances and practising respect for va tapuia [sacred space or relationships] protocols, together facilitated the process of knowledge acquisition and helped to confirm the validity of the conclusions derived from the study.     

The Governance of Global Production Networks and Regional Development: A Case Study of Taiwanese PC Production Networks

This article applies a global production networks (GPN) perspective to the trans‐border investments of Taiwanese personal computer (PC) companies in the Northern Taiwan, Greater Suzhou and Greater Dongguan regions. The findings of extensive field research are used to illustrate two conceptual arguments. First, we show the on‐the‐ground complexity of inter‐firm governance arrangements within the PC industry, thereby casting doubt upon attempts to reduce notions of governance to simplistic, industry‐wide categorisations. Second, by comparing Greater Suzhou and Greater Dongguan, we demonstrate that even within a single production system, there is geographical variation in the nature of the strategic coupling between the GPN and local institutional formations. We argue that conceptualising such geographical and organisational complexity is critical to understanding the regional development potential of GPNs.     

When land,water and green‐grabbing cumulate: Hydropower expansion,livelihood resource reallocation and legitimisation in southwest China

Hundreds of hydropower dam projects, of all sizes, have been initiated in Yunnan Province, China, since the late 1990s. This paper frames hydropower‐driven resource reallocations as resource grabs that combine aspects of land, water and green‐grabbing, investigating how two dams built along the Red River have impacted local communities and how corporate and governmental stakeholders have viewed local livelihood changes and considered compensation mechanisms. This research documents how hydropower expansion triggers changes in both land and water availability, in turn depriving riverside communities of a wide range of intersecting livelihood benefits. Villagers were compensated for some losses, but in ways that failed to address how impacts accumulated over time and how hydrologic changes would impact overall livelihood activities. Financial compensation and specific environmental and modernisation agendas legitimised resource reallocations together with the provincial, national and global development campaigns driving them. Considering how different actors experience, frame and address the impacts of hydropower development through a resource‐grabbing lens elucidates the compartmentalised approaches of distant hydropower actors as well as scholars. This study answers recent calls to mobilise the scholarship on resource‐grabbing in the service of shedding light on the socio‐political projects driving resource reallocations and their livelihood impacts.