Das Projekt "Water management, land development and economic diversification in south-east Asian deltas" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Mainz, Fachbereich 12 Sozialwissenschaften, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrika-Studien durchgeführt. Objective: The project aims at comparing irrigation and drainage management systems, both on institutional and technical points of views, that are presently performed in the three main deltas of South-East Asia (Red River delta and Mekong delta in Vietnam and the Chao Phraya delta in Thailand). This includes: - comparing existing practices of water management (irrigation, drainage) in the three deltas, - evaluating their consequences on economic efficiency and on constraints for further land development, - identifying conditions and results of one common pattern of diversification (poldered raised beds system), - propose new patterns of water management. General Information: The key activities will include three research packages: - The first package will deal with comparing different water management institutional designs that do exist (or have existed in the recent past) in the three deltas, at studying the interaction between actors in the successive levels of decision found along the water chain and at evaluating the water cost according to the different designs that have been identified: definition of the respective powers and responsibilities of the institutions involved, impact on financial issues, particularly the calculation of the water tax. - The second component of the research aims at understanding hydraulic interrelations between different sub-areas inside a global water management unit and at building models of hydraulic functioning. A related objective is to identify a number of changes in the water management in some sub-areas that better satisfy local needs without not affecting those of other sub-areas. - The last package will aim at characterising the different technical patterns of one major land development presently being spreading (or having spread in the recent past), namely raised beds technique, specifying its features regarding water management, in terms of quantity and quality, identifying the conditions of its profitability for various kinds or groups of actors. Achievements: Expected Outcome The concrete achievements should include models for water management in the deltas, an improved efficiency of water distribution, feasibility of change in water allocation and management, with water saving, the assessment of the causes and consequences of the agricultural diversification, and a complete set of technical references on raised beds systems. A special attention will be paid in the project to design ' easy to understand ' IEC (Information, Education and Communication) documents. This joint project constitutes the cornerstone of a regional network on deltaic agriculture. Prime Contractor: Groupement de Recherches et d'Echanges Technologiques, Departement Environnement de Developpement Rural; Paris; France.