Undervalued and overlooked: sustaining rural livelihoods through better governance of wetlands

Abstract

Increasing awareness about wetlands is essential to improving their management, but it is not enough. Also needed are fundamental shifts in the ways that wetland resources are valued, and in the ways that decisions are made about who has access to those resources, how they are used and how they are managed. This policy brief presents an agenda for improving the governance of wetlands in the Mekong region, building on studies undertaken by a network of research teams in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.1 it cites experiences in each of the four countries that give cause for concern, and documents some of the many examples of institutional innovation that provide signs of progress towards a vision of participatory, equitable and sustainable management of wetlands.