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The Mekong as a subregion -- regarded by many as one of the last economic frontiers -- has undergone rapid and dramatic change over the last decade of "development".

As battlefields turned into marketplaces, governments and private enterprises found themselves rebuilding their countries, while at the same dealing with the forces of globalisation and the market economy, some following the model of development their more advanced neighbours had taken.

With these remarks, IPS Regional Director Johanna Son set the tone for the discussion on the opening of the three-day seminar-workshop that kicked off the media fellowship programme, 'Our Mekong: Vision Amid Globalisation'.

Countries now have more access to shared resources, she said, because of regional cooperation and integration, as political ideology gives way to the 'logic' of the market.

"But there is a balancing act to be made: they want to be modern, but at the risk of losing or commercialising old traditions, they want to meet export demand, but worry about access to resources for livelihood, they know that open borders can be engines of growth, but also facilitate movements of people and drugs, and erode once-rural cultures and values."

There is no one single formula for achieving the right balance, Son pointed out, adding: "But the past decade has shown that inter-regional problems require regional responses, and that political boundaries can be hindrances to implementing solutions, be it the plight of ethnic minorities or change in river flows."

The Mekong subregion, after all, is a region of 240 million people, a mix of countries, communities, cultures, a combination of different political systems and ways of dealing with economic liberalisation.

Yet this mix of peoples share many of the same resources, not least the 4,800 km Mekong river, whose economic, cultural and environmental value has been part of the way of life of riparian communities dependent on it.

Son also talked about the fellowship and how it aimed to encourage writers and photojournalists from the six countries in the Mekong subregion to look at issues not only as a national issue, but in relation to and in many ways, inseparable from, its neighbours.

Delia Paul of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which groups four countries in the subregion, said that the river's lower basin is home to over 60 million people, a number that has doubled over the past 30 years.

(The Phnom Penh-based inter-governmental body monitors the use of the river's waters by Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. China and Myanmar, which also share the Mekong, are not members of MRC.)

One of MRC's tasks is to monitor river levels, Paul said, adding that the Commission is in fact in the process of getting the Mekong agencies active on flood issues to work together and coordinate efforts for emergency services and providing early warning of floods. In late March, China entered into an agreement with MRC to share data that would be relevant to managing floods downstream.

She said the MRC is also working on the promotion of safe navigation as shipping has become more important in the subregion, given increased economic activity resulting from market-oriented reforms.

Premrudee Daoroung from the non-government organisation TERRA (Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance) said as a 'development model' for the subregion, Thailand has embarked on the building of dams amid environmental destruction and drastic changes in the livelihood of people and other social costs. She warned that the very same scenario is being replicated in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

"Thailand's development model does not help the people in the Mekong River area," declared Premrudee. "Rural people are the most affected when it comes to the big projects such as dam building in the Mekong River region," she said.

Even within China, "the government has not stopped building dams to protect the communities living along the river," says Yu Xiaogang, deputy director of the Green Watershed group in Yunnan.

Dam construction also undermines the fish harvest in the Mekong, says Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the Thai wing of the Southeast Asian Rivers Network (SEARIN). "The Pak Mun dam (in Thailand) is the most obvious. Communities along the Mun River who were dependent on fisheries for a living have been reduced to poverty due to the dam."

"Little thought was given by the government to the problems the dam will cause to the rural communities," Chainarong said in his presentation. "The villagers lost income, were forced on to find jobs in Bangkok as labourers, as factory workers."

Much of this arises due to the way governments perceive rivers and how they proceed building dams. "Since the 1940s, the Thai government has viewed the rivers as a source of income, as a way to earn money," added Premrudee. "The idea of dam building came to us from the United States. The Mekong River was to be controlled for development."

But in the process, she said, a significant question was evaded: development for whom?

What is more, the affected communities were never consulted. "In Thailand and elsewhere, the people living by the river have never been consulted; there is a lack of people participation in these 'development' projects," Chainarong argued. He said: "Like Thailand, other governments in the region feel that dams are the most important infrastructure for development. It is an urban view, that of the powerful elite."

Green Watershed's Yu said that in China, many dams have been put up despite the uncertainty of the market and questionable information on the so-called "demand" for electricity. "So there is still a debate about this, but the debate is relatively weak" compared to the arguments being put forward by economists and dam developers of the good impact of such projects, he said.

The discussion that followed focused on the definition of development that is people-friendly, against the example of dam building, as well as the question of whether there is enough of a realisation among countries of the cross-border aspects of development projects. To the question of whether local media in the Mekong subregion carry stories about trends and projects in countries in the subregion, the answers were mixed.

Journalists from China and other countries said there is not much about the view of other countries about local projects that have some link with downstream countries. Others said news about Mekong issues often covered the local angle or involvement, or the local view about a perceived effect by a project across the border -- rather that stories looking at different sides of the same issue.