From Mekong Commons to Mekong Community

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Transboundary Challenges

Seiichi Igarashi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000462128
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Human Geography
• Index: Social Sciences

Considering the Mekong region as an aggregation of various commons, the contributors to this volume investigate the various commons across the boundaries of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

The book incorporates the specialized fields of political science, area studies, public policy, international relations, international development, geography, economics, business administration, public health, engineering, agricultural economics, tropical agriculture, and biotechnology. The contributions to the book cover various issues including innovation and technology, transport and logistics, public health and literacy, traditional medicine, infectious diseases, advanced agricultural technologies, irrigation, water resources, labor migration, human trafficking, and counterfeiting. They examine various commons and goods related to these issues, and discuss practices, policies, decision-making processes and governance strategies for imagining a future Mekong Community that will avoid the tragedy, and explore the comedy of the commons/anti-commons.

A valuable resource for scholars of the Mekong region, and more broadly for academics working on the interdisciplinary study of transboundary governance issues.

1Innovation and technological connectivity in the Mekong region

Sudam Pawar

DOI: 10.4324/9781003079699-2

Introduction

In modern times, digital technology has increasingly influenced not only how people produce, trade, and consume goods and services, but also how they communicate, interact, and collaborate in their public and private lives. In addition, disruptive technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) can bring about rapid and self-sustained national economic growth. In view of the economic and social spillover of innovation and technology, this chapter focuses on innovations and technological connectivity to explore a new, innovative development path in the Mekong region.

Innovation is relatively weak in the Mekong region, but significant assets necessary for transformation into an innovation-based economy are present. These include a number of competitive industries, notably in the automotive and electronic fields; an agricultural sector; leading worldwide exporters of several products; a growing services sector; a sizeable research infrastructure; reasonably well-developed higher education systems; and large networks of vocational schools.

Discussions of the commons related to a particular location or region are apt in order to focus on natural resources such as water and on constructed resources such as roads and bridges. By focusing upon innovation and technology, this chapter infuses new ideas into the understanding of the commons in the Mekong region. For this purpose, the chapter examines four sectors wherein innovation has already been successful or can be introduced in the Mekong region—agriculture, tourism, smart infrastructure, and financial technology—and explores methods for the effective utilization of technological innovation to help realize a sustainable Mekong Commons and Community.

1 The rise of innovation and technology in the Mekong region

Fourth Industrial Revolution

There exists a long history of industrial revolution via waves of new technology. Currently, the world is experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which connects innovations from the three previous industrial revolutions with one another (Schwab 2016). According to Martin and Leurent, exciting advances in five technologies within the broader technological landscape are transforming global production systems and unleashing a new wave of competition among producers and countries alike: IoT, AI, advanced robotics, wearables, and 3D printing (Martin and Leurent 2017: 4). The Fourth Industrial Revolution has already witnessed major advances in technology that will likely transform the structure and dynamics of many industries. Industry 4.0 is a common term used to describe the next wave of digital and online transformation as industries increasingly adopt automation, AI, robotics, cloud computing, 3D printing, big data analytics, and the IoT (Kimura, Shrestha, and Narjoko 2019).

These advancing technologies facilitate a broad range of business activities related to the storage, processing, distribution, transmission, and reproduction of information. They also have the potential to enhance connectivity and competitiveness. Technological innovations often provide solutions to human needs and can have transformative power, becoming new engines to propel economic growth and social improvement. However, there exist concerns regarding the impacts of advancing technologies on economic development in both developed and developing countries, especially regarding labor market outcomes. The technological advancements accompanying the Fourth Industrial Revolution will fully or partially automate a wide range of jobs in many sectors in many countries, including those previously considered to be non-routine tasks. Thus, it is possible that these technologies will create as many problems as they solve. Areas of social policy that have increasingly been affected by technological innovations include education, health, and social care (Li and Piachaud 2019: 1).

Rapidly evolving technology, particularly information and communication technology (ICT), is an everyday reality for many people. Current literature discussing economic development argues that the ability to engage in innovation through collaboration and connectivity is essential for countries to participate in the modern knowledge-driven, technology-based economy. This type of connectivity and access not only provides information but also attracts investment because it allows for the communication and networking necessary to understand and respond to market needs.

The Mekong region and technological innovations

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), established as a policy space in 1992 through the initiative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), comprises six countries: Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China (specifically Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The GMS has continually grown more diversified, innovative, and sustainable since its inception. Emphasizing the importance of a smart economy backed by technologies and innovations, Ramesh Subramanian, Director General of the Southeast Asia Department at ADB, stated at a GMS seminar in Bangkok:

These six countries are now deeply and better connected than they were 25 years ago. Transport corridors now crisscross the subregion, and good progress is being made on the agreements and systems to facilitate the movement of goods and people along them. Trade is also certainly more vibrant. Electric power and ICT development is proceeding with an eye toward subregional integration. Joint undertakings have been initiated to spur subregional activity in agriculture, tourism, and investment. Addressing concerns about the environment through well-coordinated joint efforts has become the norm. Likewise, building human and institutional capacities for greater competitiveness as well as securing the welfare of migrant workers are being coordinated at the subregional level. Digital technology, considered as a challenge and an opportunity, has increasingly affected the way people produce, trade, and consume.¹

In the Mekong countries, however, the ability to utilize ICT remains limited, and there are significant inequalities between urban and rural dwellers in terms of accessibility. For example, widespread adoption of various types of ICT applications that have, in other parts of the world, proven to be very successful tools for developing and supporting the inclusion of farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in commercial supply chains has yet to be realized in the Mekong region. These limitations constrain the success of other regional development initiatives. Another area of technological development that the Mekong region has yet to fully explore and adopt is power trading and renewable energy. Determining the most effective ways to manage and maximize the use of precious environmental resources is a pressing need for the region, not only to support increased economic growth but also to respond effectively to the challenges of climate change. Thus, the need for innovation that introduces and supports technological connectivity constitutes a new regional development theme essential for the economic growth and prosperity of the GMS, the integration of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community, and the incorporation of entire region into the global community.

The Mekong Institute (MI), an intergovernmental organization run by the six GMS governments, identified the current challenges related to innovation and technological connectivity in the Mekong region, including:

• Technological connectivity to modernize the Mekong economies, particularly those concerned with trade investment and facilitation of agricultural development and commercialization (e.g., how to technically connect farmers to markets, SMEs to trade opportunities, etc.);
• Innovations to address challenges in specific sectors such as the Mekong power and energy sector;
• Initiatives that promote access to modern sustainable energy, transportation (including road corridors), and financial and communication services across the Mekong region;
• Mechanisms to draw together private and public partnerships to address technological connectivity in innovative ways;
• Capacity development for innovation and technology promotion policy;
• Support for formulation of an effective intellectual property regime;
• Responses to resiliency challenges, such as, climate change in the Mekong region through innovative mitigation efforts; and,
• Synchronization of relevant sectorial strategies and plans in the Mekong region.²

The following challenges presented in the Master Plan for ASEAN Connectivity are also relevant for the Mekong region: (1) the imminent doubling of the number of ASEAN households part of the “consuming class” over the next 15 years; (2) the improvement of productivity to sustain economic progress as growth in the size of the workforce starts to slow; (3) the migration of people to cities within the ASEAN by 2030; (4) the need for infrastructure spending more than double that of historical levels; (5) the need to equip the third-largest labor force in the world with the skills required to support growth and inclusiveness; (6) the emergence of disruptive technologies; (7) the opportunity...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Notes on editor and contributors
• Preface and acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction: From Mekong Commons to Mekong Community—toward a synergetic study
• 1 Innovation and technological connectivity in the Mekong region
• 2 Public health and health literacy in the Mekong region
• 3 Traditional medicine in the Mekong region
• 4 The impact of road development on HIV/AIDS transmission in the Greater Mekong Subregion
• 5 Green freight and logistics in the Mekong region
• 6 Advanced agricultural technologies and innovations in the Mekong region: DNA markers, plant tissue culture, hydroponics, and plant factories
• 7 Dissemination of a water-saving irrigation technique for sustainable rice farming in the Mekong River basin
• 8 Regional cooperation on water resources in the Mekong region: A perspective from the Mekong River Commission
• 9 Labor migration and civil society in the Mekong region
• 10 Anti-human trafficking measures for human security in the Mekong region
• 11 Counterfeiting in the Mekong region: A general equilibrium, product variety analysis on primary markets
• Conclusion
• Index