Integrated River Basin Management Project

The year 2023 marks the beginning of a breakthrough collaboration among six ASEAN member states (AMS) and development partners in Southeast Asia for the protection and management of select priority river basins that drain into four large marine ecosystems in the Southeast Asian Region: the Bay of Bengal, South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand and Indonesian Sea.

Guided by the principle of source-to-sea system, the five-year regional project, Reducing Pollution and Preserving Environmental Flows in the East Asian Seas through the Implementation of Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) in ASEAN Countries, or IRBM Project, aims to establish functional IRBM mechanisms in priority river basins in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam for reducing pollution and sustaining freshwater environmental flows as well as adapting to climate change vulnerabilities.  

The IRBM project is supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed by Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of Asia (PEMSEA) Resource Facility, in collaboration with ASEAN.

Project Goal

To establish functional integrated river basin management mechanisms in priority river basins of six ASEAN countries for reducing pollution and sustaining freshwater environmental flows as well as adapting to climate change vulnerabilities.

This will be achieved through the application of a solution-oriented approach that combines:

• Efforts to improve understanding of the various source-to-sea governance, socioeconomic, ecological conditions, gaps and needs in the seven priority river basins and associated coastal areas;
• Implement pilot projects aimed at providing on-the-ground solutions to identified key issues in the seven priority river basins using proven templates to support replication and scaling up, and
• Hands-on training, experience building and information sharing in participatory planning, development and implementation of IRBM governance and management solutions across the 6 ASEAN countries.   
   

Download the project brief here.