Mekong Safeguards Project Quarterly Report April 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019

It is being implemented by The Asia Foundation (TAF) in partnership with three Consortium partners: Global Environmental Institute, The Stimson Center, and Vermont Law School. The project aims to address the challenge of environmental degradation of the Mekong ecosystem from large-scale infrastructure development in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam (CLTV). The goal of MSP is to reduce overall environmental impact of infrastructure development in the Lower Mekong. This will be achieved through a set of mutually reinforcing activities under two objectives. Objective 1 aims to minimize negative impacts through stronger and more consistent application of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards for infrastructure projects in the Lower Mekong. Objective 2 pursues the higher-level mitigation strategy of avoidance by catalyzing sustainable infrastructure planning. During the period of April 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019, Consortium partners continued to follow approximately 40 actors of potential relevance to MSP objectives and updated the Actor Map. Meetings and events of significance were described throughout Objective 1 and Objective 2 activity descriptions. The updated Actor Map is included as Annex 1. Notable updates to the Actor Map this quarter include the decision by Vermont Law School to no longer work on activities focused on Chinese regulation under IR 1.1, the agreement between the World Bank and NDRC to work together on Chinese ESG standards, and the co-hosting of a Regional Workshop on Development of Environmental and Social Compliance and Accountability Mechanism Framework for Financial Intermediaries by ADB and CBIRC. TAF began collating key project and non-project developments to prepare a Strategy Testing framework. The CLA plan will be regularly updated over the course of the implementation to help MSP in a coordinated, evidence-based, and adjusted manner. The Consortium and USAID held several rounds of discussion to update and expand the project Workplan, as the project budget will be increased and the period of performance extended. TAF executed subawards with the following partners this period: GEI and Stimson for overall Year 1 activities; Beijing Rongzhi Corporate Social Responsibility Institute (Rongzhi) for Activity 1.2.3 in Year 1; and China International Contractors Association (CHINCA) for Activity 1.3.1 in Year 1. The narrative report for Q2 (January 1, 2019 – March 31, 2019) was submitted on May 1, 2019. The financial report for Q2 (January 1, 2019 – March 31, 2019) was submitted on May 1, 2019. MSP sent an initial plan to USAID in early June and got instructive feedbacks on June 4, 2019. USAID clarified that this analysis should identify the impact of infrastructure development (energy and transportation) in lower Mekong countries on women and minorities, gaps and barriers that prevent them to increase their voices in this development, and what USAID MSP can do to address those gaps and barriers. Based on feedback from USAID, MSP worked with the contracted consultant to refine the report. A final draft will be submitted during the period July-September 2019.