About:

The 9C-9T sub-basin is an important shared tributary of the Mekong River system. It flows down from Thailand as the Tonle Sap River, through Northwest Cambodia as the Mongkol Borey River into the Tonle Sap Lake. The sub-basin covers 14,952 km² and is home to 1.4 million people. About 27% of the basin is in Thailand and the greater part of the sub-basin is in Cambodia, covering an area of 73%.

Headwaters of the Tonle Sap 9C-9T sub-basin in Thailand and Cambodia feed multiple rivers that flow into important farmland and towns including the Cambodian ‘rice bowl’. The rivers and freshwater resources of the 9C-9T provide drinking water, ecosystem services, and aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity wildlife corridors that are central to ecological sustainability of the Tonle Sap Lake and to sustaining the livelihoods of 1.4 million residents in agriculture, industry, fisheries, tourism and expanding commercial and trade activities. Both parts of the sub-basin, and hence the two countries, are bound together in their shared management challenges and solutions. Mitigating flood and drought is the overarching objective because of their far-reaching impacts on every aspect of life in the sub-basin, with the threat to become more severe as climate changes take hold.

GIZ is delivering a Technical Cooperation module on transboundary water cooperation in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB), which aims at improving cooperation between Mekong River Commission (MRC) Member States and strengthening governance in the water resources sector in the LMB. The 9C-9T Joint Project is a core output of the module and is being implemented over three phases, from 2018 to 2024. The 9C-9T Joint Project is strengthening joint planning, management, monitoring and investment in a linked network of measures across the 9C-9T to adapt to and mitigate the effects of floods and droughts.

ICEM has been contracted to provide technical support in implementing Phases II and Phase III, from 2020 to 2024. Work to date has focused on transboundary planning and modelling; the development of technical support tools, including a 9C-9T Basin Atlas; the establishment of the 9C-9T Flood and Drought Master Plan; the design of projects for piloting nature-based solutions for flood and drought management; and seeking financing from national and international sources.

Phase III is currently focused on the design, development and implementation of a transboundary EWS for flood and drought in the 9C-9T sub-basin, to strengthen the capacity of key stakeholders for improved decision making. The assignment is being completed over a period of 16-months and aims to:

• Design and implement a transboundary flood and drought EWS, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the 9C-9T, considering monitoring, forecasting, early warning and response, as well as establishing a transboundary flood and drought monitoring network;

• Retain and build on the existing transboundary steering mechanisms and facilitate national and regional meetings with relevant stakeholders in the two countries

• Design and carry out gender-sensitive capacity-building activities for key stakeholders in the 9C-9T, including line agencies and local communities, to monitor, implement and raise awareness on EWS;

• Develop an upscaling strategy for the 9C-9T on key findings from the Joint Project, highlighting best practices and lessons learnt for replication in other LMB sub-basins; and

• Support the continuation and finalisation of existing funding mobilisation process for the 9C-9T.

To meet the aims and objectives, the Joint Venture, is undertaking a thorough review of the current systems, data, trends, needs and institutional arrangements relating to EWS in the 9C-9T sub-basin. This will inform opportunities for establishing a sustainable transboundary EWS, with mechanisms that promotes gender equality and focuses on vulnerable groups. The Joint Project is being facilitated through cross-border and cross-sectoral engagement, collaboration and validation, supported by GIZ and MRCS, in coordination with the National Mekong Committees and relevant sectoral agencies in Cambodia and Thailand.

A key output of the 9C-9T Joint Project is the development of an online, geo-referenced decision support tool – the 9C-9T Basin Atlas – to support the Governments of Cambodia and Thailand in managing transboundary flood and drought risks. It will provide for the open sharing of information and data to inform transboundary, national, and sub-national planning, management, and investment in flood and drought resilience-building measures. The 9C-9T Basin Atlas is hosted and managed by MRCS: https://9c9t.mrcmekong.org/

Photo cover credit: ICEM