ASEAN countries and the Mekong River Basin: The Plethora of Hydropower Projects, and the Unceasingly Unsolved Issue of Environmental Alterations and Resource Overexploitations to Gradual Regional Economic Repercussions

CINTHASYA NANDINI S, Dr. Muhammad Rum

2022 | Skripsi | S1 ILMU HUBUNGAN INTERNASIONAL

Sungai Mekong merupakan salah satu sungai yang paling signifikan di dunia, sungai ini menghubungkan enam negara (Cina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, dan Kamboja) dari wilayah Asia Timur hingga Asia Tenggara dimana sumber daya sungai tersebut digunakan untuk menyokong perkembangan ekonomi negara-negara tersebut. Kualitas air dan ekosistem Sungai Mekong telah mengalami penurunan signifikan dalam dua dekade terakhir karena berlimpahnya pembangunan bendungan hydropower oleh negara-negara sub-wilayah Sungai Mekong untuk memperoleh sumber daya alam dan energi. Masalah ini terus berjalan karena negara-negara tersebut terlalu berpacu kepada kepentingan masing-masing terhadap pemanfaatan sungai yang menyebabkan kerusakan lebih. Riset ini meneliti kurangnya kooperasi antara kelima negara ASEAN untuk merumuskan strategi komprehensif yang menjamin stabilitas Sungai Mekong di masa depan. Terdapat keperluan kepada lima negara 9 ASEAN tersebut untuk membentuk kepercayaan dan kerjasama agar menyelesaikan permasalahan geopolitik dan lingkungan dalam Sungai Mekong.

The Mekong River Basin is one of the most important rivers in the world, it connects six countries (China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia) from the East Asian region all the way to the Southeast Asian terrains and its resources are utilized to power these countries’ economic developments. The river has been facing significant decline in water and ecosystem quality over the past two decades, and is caused mainly by the numerous hydropower dam constructions by the Mekong sub-region countries to collect resource and energy from the river’s richness. This case had been going on for decades and still no signs of any resolve, prominently because the countries fixate too much on their own interests on the river utilization that causes even more harm to the river’s environment. China also remains a dominant power that takes over the sub-region for its own hydropower plant projects. This study looks through the five ASEAN riparian countries’ lack of cooperative measures in formulating a comprehensive strategy to revitalize the river for an ensured sustainability in the future. There is an undeclared need for the five countries to establish trust and cooperation amongst each other in order to disentangle the geopolitical and environmental disarray of the Mekong River Basin.

Kata Kunci : Mekong River, hydropower dam, cooperation, internal influence, external influence, stag hunt model, riparian countries, environment, sustainability.