International DDEP: Planning for Resevoir Operation and Land-Use with Stakeholders of the Mekong Basin

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This award supports field work in Laos by Ph.D. candidate, Julia Reis, in her study of the impact of the new Yali reservoir in Vietnam on the Mekong River in Cambodia downstream of the dam. In particular, the PI and Ms. Reis are developing methods to optimize reservoir operations to minimize negative impacts on the environment and the livelihoods of people living in the region. The Land Use Planning and Analysis System (LUPAS), an optimization model developed for Southeast Asia, will be utilized to integrate the livelihoods of residents near the Yali Reservoir into the planning process. Ultimately, the model will be used to optimize the operation of a cascade of 3 reservoirs (the Yali, Theun-Hinbun Expansion, and Lower Sesan 2).Ms. Reis will join a large on-going research project through the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR). During two two-month visits to the Vientiane, Laos, office of IWMI, Ms. Reis will work with IWMI researchers as well as the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute to tailor her reservoir optimization model and link it with the LUPAS model. IWMI will also assist Ms. Reis in meeting with governmental agencies to collect natural resources data to populate the reservoir model with accurate data. Through collaborative meetings with stakeholder partners arranged by IWMI and other organizations, Ms. Reis and other project partners will work together to coordinate dam operation with local community and environmental needs.The intellectual merit of the project rests in the integration of two complex systems in a simulation that can assist in optimizing reservoir operations. The proposal addresses the need for both vertical and horizontal integration of system descriptions. Horizontal integration brings together the management of natural resources such as soil, water, forests, and urban landscapes while the vertical integration focuses on how well engineers and planners understand the regional political and social climate, and how directly stakeholders can contribute to plans that can have great impact. With better understanding of the interactions and effects in these complex systems, i.e. a complete river basin, unintended but negative impacts on people and the environment may be minimized. This can have great significance for the society in the region. The project also contributes to the professional development of Ms. Reis and of an undergraduate who will also travel to Laos.