Official Development Aid into the five countries of the Lower Mekong Basin accounts for just 1% of the world’s total. While Thailand began paying back its ODA debt in 2000, the amount of ODA to the four other countries increased between 2004 and 2013. ...

The monitoring framework for SDG 13 – “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” – is made up of five targets and eight indicators. These will be used to monitor progress in combating climate change as part of the 2030 Agenda. The ...

Introduction Water is the lifeblood of the Lower Mekong Countries. With economies and cultures inextricably connected to the Mekong River, built as they are on the production and consumption of rice and fish, people living in the Mekong countries are highly sensitive to changes in water. ...

Overview In the past decade, infrastructure development has been a central focus of policymaking for countries in the Lower Mekong – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Financing these projects is a complicated and large undertaking. A multi-billion dollar airport project, for instance, may require loans ...

SDG 15 aims to “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”. The goal has a monitoring framework with 12 targets and 14 indicators. It is seen as a ...

SDG 2 – “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” – has a monitoring framework made up of eight targets. The framework began with 14 indicators, but it now has 13 indicators. This goal highlights the interlinkages between food security ...

Infrastructure Connects SEZs SEZs need infrastructure to connect with neighbouring countries, improve quality of life, and promote trade and investment.184 Both soft and hard infrastructure is needed. Soft infrastructure includes institutional components such as education, healthcare and human capital, whereas hard infrastructure is the physical ones such ...

When water seeps into the earth after a rain or flood it fills the spaces between the rocks and soil particles providing moisture for plants and percolating into larger spaces called aquifers.  Groundwater naturally flows to the surface again as springs and wetlands. ...

SDG 8 – “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” – is made up of 12 targets and 17 indicators, including two that repeat in SDG 12 (8.4.1/12.2.1 and 8.4.2/12.2.2). These targets address economic growth and ...

SDG 5 – “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” – has a monitoring framework of nine targets and 14 indicators. The goal encompasses discrimination (5.1), violence (5.2), harmful practices (5.3), unpaid work (5.4), leadership (5.5), and women’s and sexual health (5.6), as ...