Natural Systems and Climate Change Resilience in the Lower Mekong Basin

The Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) is experiencing a total transformation of its social, economic and natural environment. Exceptional advances have been made in reducing poverty, in expanding infrastructure networks, in trade and commerce and in improving the quality of life in many of the region’s diverse communities and cultures. That progress has come at a substantial cost with long-term implications for its sustainability. Much development is proceeding without adequate knowledge of its impacts. The information available to decision-makers has been insufficient to avoid and mitigate unplanned and unwanted social and ecological effects.