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General: Mekong River nations, U.S. strengthen partnership for sustainable water management

Maj. Gen. Diana M. Holland/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Water is life. The need for this resource is universal, yet access to water is not guaranteed in many parts of the world. Together, the world faces new and evolving challenges. Climate change — and its anticipated effects such as prolonged droughts, changing weather patterns and food insecurity — will create new barriers for vulnerable and at-risk communities to access clean drinking water and sufficient food sources. It is essential that we work together, across national and regional boundaries, to confront these emerging challenges. We all share a responsibility to protect and sustainably use our global natural resources to ensure they last.

The United States is collaborating with the Mekong River Commission and its four member countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to address these challenges, including through the Sister Rivers Partnership program. The program pairs the Mississippi River in the U.S. with the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, forming a partnership between the Mekong River Commission and the Mississippi River Commission. The Mekong and Mississippi are considered sister rivers because, just like siblings, they share several traits: Both are transboundary waterways, serve as the life source to countless communities and face shared challenges. These challenges include infrastructure development, saltwater intrusion, riverbank erosion, evolving hydrology and climate change. By pairing the river commissions, the program joins expert teams from all five participating nations to share best practices regarding water management. At its core, the partnership is a platform for the commissions to learn from each other and to collaboratively promote sustainable water management.

The Sister Rivers Partnership facilitates reciprocal trips for U.S. representatives to the Mekong River and for representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and the Mekong River Commission Secretariat to the Mississippi and other U.S. rivers. These exchanges highlight the enduring friendship and partnership between the commissions and enable better understanding of the challenges impacting riparian communities. Most of all, the visits afford an opportunity to learn firsthand from each other on best practices to protect our waterways and the communities living near them.

Our team recently had the opportunity to visit Laos and Cambodia, and we were thoroughly impressed by the grandness of the mighty Mekong. The river’s sheer importance to the community and the way of life in those countries was immediately obvious and reminded us of our home along the Mississippi. During the July 2022 trip, we conducted seven official engagements that included the Mekong River Commission Secretariat and several ministries in member countries. We also signed a new memorandum of understanding, committing the two commissions to continue the partnership and exchange visits for the next five years. During our visit to Southeast Asia, we observed immense dedication from the Mekong River Commission Secretariat and its members countries to protect the Mekong for generations to come. (Pictured, from left: Mississippi River Commission members Col. Geoff Van Epps, Dr. Norma Jean Mattei, Maj. Gen. Diana M. Holland, Brig. Gen. Kirk Gibbs, Rear Adm. Benjamin Evans and Col. Andy Pannier attend a prep session in Hawaii before the Sister Rivers Partnership exchange program to the Mekong River in July 2022.)

I look forward to continued collaboration with our Mekong partners, and I eagerly await the opportunity to warmly welcome our friends from the Mekong River Commission and National Mekong Committee members from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to visit the Mississippi for the next Sister Rivers Partnership exchange.

Maj. Gen. Diana M. Holland is commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division, and also serves as president of the Mississippi River Commission.   

IMAGE CREDIT: ANA ALLEN/U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

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