ASEAN member states, partners convene to discuss efforts on integrated river basin management in the region

The 2nd Regional Steering Committee of the IRBM Project was co-chaired by Lao PDR in its capacity as Chairperson of the AWGWRM and UNDP in Asia and the Pacific. 

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia – Nine ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme, and the EAS Executive Committee convened in person and online for the 2nd Regional Steering Committee (RSC) Meeting of the IRBM Project held on 2 July 2024 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Government of Cambodia through the Ministry of Environment hosted the meeting and together with PEMSEA Resource Facility, served as Secretariat to the meeting.  

 

The meeting discussed the progress made at the regional level and at the national and river basin levels in the six participating ASEAN Member States, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam, the challenges encountered and proposed measures to address the challenges.

 

The meeting noted the establishment of the inter-agency, multisectoral coordinating mechanisms to guide project implementation in Cambodia through the Inter-Ministerial Technical Working Group; in Lao PDR through the Project Steering Committees that were established at national and provincial levels and in the Philippines through the Governing Board of the Water Quality Management Area for Imus Ylang Ylang and Rio Grande Rivers and the Subcommittee on Environment of the Regional Development Council Region 3 for Pasac-Guagua River.  The Project is expected to kick-off within the year in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam upon the completion of the respective government’s review and approval processes. 
 

The Regional Steering Committee is the decision-making body of the five-year IRBM Project. It is composed of  the ASEAN Member States of the AWGWRM, the ASEAN Secretariat, the East Asian Seas Executive Committee,  and UNDP.

 

The RSC approved the 2024 reprofiled budget and the proposed 2025 workplan and budget. The meeting also revisited the project risks and measures to mitigate them as well as the process in preparing the 2024 Project Implementation Report as part of the monitoring and reporting requirements of the Global Environment Facility.

  

The meeting was held back-to-back with the 24th Annual Meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Water Resources Management (AWGWRM) on 2-3 July 2024, where Ms. Nancy Bermas, IRBM Regional Project Manager, presented the progress of the Project during the Open Session of the AWGWRM meeting. The AWGWRM serves as the  knowledge sharing platform for the IRBM Project to share good practices and key findings and facilitate networking among the ASEAN Member States.

 

“We will listen to the six participating ASEAN Member States present the progress made in project implementation, including the challenges encountered and strategies to address them. I would like to sincerely thank the GEF, UNDP, ASEAN, and PEMSEA for their continuing support to the countries in the implementation of IRBM and integrated water resources management (projects) in the ASEAN region,” said Mr. Oudomsack Philavong, Chairperson of AWGWRM and Director General of the Department of Water Resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Lao PDR.

 

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About the IRBM Project

Supported by the Global Environment Facility, the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project aims to set-up functional management mechanisms in priority river basins of six ASEAN countries to reduce pollution and sustain freshwater environmental flows as well as adapt to climate change vulnerabilities.The Project is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, and executed by Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of Seas Asia, in collaboration with ASEAN.

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