Analysing transboundary water governance: A global-regional-national water governance framework of Tonle Sap Lake

Abstract

Transboundary water governance is multiscale and multilevel, involving different actors with diverse powers and politics at different levels and scales. Levels and scales are key governance challenges in transboundary water governance. Although there is considerable literature on scale and level, there is very little on how to operationalize it in a transboundary river basin context. Accordingly, the present study analyses how scale and level complicate transboundary water governance, using a literature review and a case study of Tonle Sap Lake (TSL) in the Mekong River Basin to examine the level and scale affecting transboundary water governance. The present study describes the level of transboundary water governance in terms of global, regional and national implications. There are different functional spaces at each level, including agriculture, fisheries and biodiversity. Spaces are zoned into different spatial scales, based on technocratic interests, specialization, power and the politics of actors. The present study concludes that levels, spatial scales and zoning have made TSL governance more complex, leading to establishment of new institutional and legal arrangements for managing Tonle Sap, some of which compete with, conflict and overlap, meaning sound environmental management and good governance cannot be guaranteed.