A critique of ADB policies towards the Greater Mekong Sub-region

A Particular Place? Laos and its Incorporation into the Development Mainstream

“…Of course they will not become equally involved however, and it has been suggested that established inequalities will be accentuated, particularly those that relate to ethnic divisions (Cornford, 2006, page 22). Not only do some scholars see the GMS initiative having negative economic effects on more vulnerable states and peoples, but these spill over and are reflected in negative environmental and social effects (see, for example, Hirsch, 2001;Oehlers, 2006).…”

Benefit sharing in the Mekong River basin

“…For instance, ecological aspects of the Columbia River were not considered, thereby triggering the environmental degradation of the river (Tarlock & Wouters, 2007). These points are also associated with the challenges faced by the GMS programme (Oehlers, 2006;Ogden, 2012).…”

“…Also, China's active engagement with the GMS programme has paved the way for cooperation (Schmeier, 2010). However, despite such achievements, Oehlers (2006) criticizes the fundamental challenges embedded in the programme. Ogden (2012) calls for a careful approach to costs related to externalities, particularly with regard to negative environmental impacts.…”

Environmental Politics in China: An Issue Area in Review

“…Some of these spillover problems have led to visible local societal resistance and intergovernmental tension. For example, collective action and protesting facilitated by both nonstate advocacy groups and intergovernmental channels have emerged, in countries that are downstream of the Mekong River, against dam building and water resource extracting in the upstream areas inside China [30,54,110,123].…”