Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin

During the last decade there has been a concerted effort in the Mekong basin to research the capture fisheries in an attempt to influence national and regional water resource policy and practice, particularly hydropower development. As a result of this research effort, the Mekong capture fisheries a...

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Main Author: Richard M. Friend
Format: Journal
Published: 2018
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Online Access:https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=67651091615&origin=inward
http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/49114
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Institution: Chiang Mai University
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spelling th-cmuir.6653943832-491142018-08-16T02:19:00Z Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin Richard M. Friend Environmental Science Social Sciences During the last decade there has been a concerted effort in the Mekong basin to research the capture fisheries in an attempt to influence national and regional water resource policy and practice, particularly hydropower development. As a result of this research effort, the Mekong capture fisheries are better documented than ever before. There is broad consensus on the key conclusions of this research - on the scale and value of production, its importance to local livelihoods, and the ecological drivers of the natural productivity. Despite this research success the agendas of water resources management have not changed, and the pace of hydropower development has accelerated. This presents a dilemma for fisheries science and research in its efforts to influence policy. This paper considers the models and assumptions of policy influence that have underpinned this fisheries research effort, and presents alternative approaches for fisheries science to better engage in influencing policy. The paper argues that addressing the neglect of capture fisheries in the Mekong is fundamentally a governance challenge of setting development values and pathways. Meeting such a challenge, in the context of the Mekong, requires a democratising and civic science that broadens the decision-making arena as much as it produces new evidence and arguments. 2018-08-16T02:10:19Z 2018-08-16T02:10:19Z 2009-01-01 Journal 19650175 2-s2.0-67651091615 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=67651091615&origin=inward http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/49114
institution Chiang Mai University
building Chiang Mai University Library
country Thailand
collection CMU Intellectual Repository
topic Environmental Science
Social Sciences
spellingShingle Environmental Science
Social Sciences
Richard M. Friend
Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin
description During the last decade there has been a concerted effort in the Mekong basin to research the capture fisheries in an attempt to influence national and regional water resource policy and practice, particularly hydropower development. As a result of this research effort, the Mekong capture fisheries are better documented than ever before. There is broad consensus on the key conclusions of this research - on the scale and value of production, its importance to local livelihoods, and the ecological drivers of the natural productivity. Despite this research success the agendas of water resources management have not changed, and the pace of hydropower development has accelerated. This presents a dilemma for fisheries science and research in its efforts to influence policy. This paper considers the models and assumptions of policy influence that have underpinned this fisheries research effort, and presents alternative approaches for fisheries science to better engage in influencing policy. The paper argues that addressing the neglect of capture fisheries in the Mekong is fundamentally a governance challenge of setting development values and pathways. Meeting such a challenge, in the context of the Mekong, requires a democratising and civic science that broadens the decision-making arena as much as it produces new evidence and arguments.
format Journal
author Richard M. Friend
author_facet Richard M. Friend
author_sort Richard M. Friend
title Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin
title_short Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin
title_full Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin
title_fullStr Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin
title_full_unstemmed Fishing for influence: Fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the Mekong basin
title_sort fishing for influence: fisheries science and evidence in water resources development in the mekong basin
publishDate 2018
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=67651091615&origin=inward
http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/49114
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