Prof. Mukand Babel, second from right.
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), in collaboration with the Thai Water Partnership, and the Pollution Control Department of Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, on 12 May 2015 organized an inception workshop in Bangkok for its new project titled: “Developing an operational framework for river health assessment in the Mekong River Basin.”
Current health assessments in the basin are centered exclusively on river water quality indicators. The project – to be carried out over three years (2015-2017), and supported
by CGIAR’s Water Land and Ecosystem, Greater Mekong Program – seeks to plug existing knowledge gaps by developing a holistic River Health Indicator (RHI) system capable of addressing a variety of dimensions of river health in the Mekong River Basin.AIT’s Prof. Mukand Babel, who is the project’s team leader, said: “We propose to develop a state-of-the-art indicator system that would not only consider traditional dimensions of river health, but be more forward-looking by addressing anticipated drivers of river health as well.”The vision of the project is to institutionalize a new RHI system in Thailand. This would not be possible without the cooperation of the various relevant government agencies, Prof. Babel said. The workshop, therefore, provided a platform for these various national stakeholders to discuss and arrive at a shared understanding of the river health
issues in Thailand, he explained.Stakeholders included the National Health Commission (NHC); Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP); Department of Water Resources (DWR); Department of Groundwater Resources; Department of Fisheries; Department of Agriculture; Land Development Department; and the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion. Experts from leading national universities and research
institutions in Thailand also attended.
by CGIAR’s Water Land and Ecosystem, Greater Mekong Program – seeks to plug existing knowledge gaps by developing a holistic River Health Indicator (RHI) system capable of addressing a variety of dimensions of river health in the Mekong River Basin.AIT’s Prof. Mukand Babel, who is the project’s team leader, said: “We propose to develop a state-of-the-art indicator system that would not only consider traditional dimensions of river health, but be more forward-looking by addressing anticipated drivers of river health as well.”The vision of the project is to institutionalize a new RHI system in Thailand. This would not be possible without the cooperation of the various relevant government agencies, Prof. Babel said. The workshop, therefore, provided a platform for these various national stakeholders to discuss and arrive at a shared understanding of the river health
issues in Thailand, he explained.Stakeholders included the National Health Commission (NHC); Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP); Department of Water Resources (DWR); Department of Groundwater Resources; Department of Fisheries; Department of Agriculture; Land Development Department; and the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion. Experts from leading national universities and research
institutions in Thailand also attended.
A notable outcome of the workshop was the identification of key actors ― to form a focused group of national stakeholders and academicians ― who are excited about the project, and indicated a willingness to become engaged in the development of a new RHI system for the country, said AIT’s Dr. Victor Shinde.
