Journal of Greater Mekong Studies
Journal of Greater Mekong Studies
Volume 05
It gives me great pleasure to introduce to our readers to this fifth edition of the Journal of Greater Mekong Studies. On behalf of the entire editorial team here at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP), I would like to thank the Embassy of the United States for its continued financial support for the journal and its strong support for CICP in the further development of the journal as a fully independent, open access space for regional and global analysts to explore the key issues that confront the Greater Mekong Subregion and its constituent states.
Over the course of 2021 and 2022, we are very excited about expanding our readership, our editorial board, and moving forward into an “open submission/call for papers” format in order to bring in a wider range of voices and perspectives as the journal seeks to achieve its goal of becoming. Building on our own institutional values, we are particularly looking forward to giving renewed attention to the continued “gender gap” in international relations/Greater Mekong Studies and actively working to reach out, as part of the editorial process in all future volumes, to women scholars whose voices have been historically marginalized in the field.
In this edition, I am deeply grateful to all of our authors for their careful exploration and analysis of a wide range of topics. Where in the past we have taken a more “thematic” approach – with particular editions focusing on specific topics – in this edition we have “opened the doors” as it were to a particularly broad set of topics. Just to highlight a few of these – Sanchita Chatterjee from the Mekong Institute takes a deep dive into the realities of the new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the implications thereof for supply chains in the region, a topic that has been the source of considerable debate over the course of the last year. On the question of the river and its tributaries and their development – our contributors have run the gamut of issues. Mak Sithirith examines how the changing flow of the Tonle Sap and how it has affected the livelihoods of local communities; Tom Fawthrop looks at the question of supporting biodiversity and fisheries on the Mekong and the phasing out of hydropower; while Nguyen Minh Quang of Can Tho University brings to the fore the important question of the role of “citizen science” in the mitigation of environmental problems in Mekong.
Furthermore, from climate change to the question of EBA removal in Cambodia to the role of BRI – we are very proud that this edition has “something for everyone” and will help to move forward scholarly discussion of the pressing issues of the day.
Ambassador Pou Sothirak
Executive Director, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace
Over the course of 2021 and 2022, we are very excited about expanding our readership, our editorial board, and moving forward into an “open submission/call for papers” format in order to bring in a wider range of voices and perspectives as the journal seeks to achieve its goal of becoming. Building on our own institutional values, we are particularly looking forward to giving renewed attention to the continued “gender gap” in international relations/Greater Mekong Studies and actively working to reach out, as part of the editorial process in all future volumes, to women scholars whose voices have been historically marginalized in the field.
In this edition, I am deeply grateful to all of our authors for their careful exploration and analysis of a wide range of topics. Where in the past we have taken a more “thematic” approach – with particular editions focusing on specific topics – in this edition we have “opened the doors” as it were to a particularly broad set of topics. Just to highlight a few of these – Sanchita Chatterjee from the Mekong Institute takes a deep dive into the realities of the new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the implications thereof for supply chains in the region, a topic that has been the source of considerable debate over the course of the last year. On the question of the river and its tributaries and their development – our contributors have run the gamut of issues. Mak Sithirith examines how the changing flow of the Tonle Sap and how it has affected the livelihoods of local communities; Tom Fawthrop looks at the question of supporting biodiversity and fisheries on the Mekong and the phasing out of hydropower; while Nguyen Minh Quang of Can Tho University brings to the fore the important question of the role of “citizen science” in the mitigation of environmental problems in Mekong.
Furthermore, from climate change to the question of EBA removal in Cambodia to the role of BRI – we are very proud that this edition has “something for everyone” and will help to move forward scholarly discussion of the pressing issues of the day.
Ambassador Pou Sothirak
Executive Director, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace