Effective multi-jurisdictional river basin management -: Data collection and exchange in the Murray-Darling and Mekong River basins

Hydrologic data collection is an important aspect of multi-jurisdictional river basin management. The Murray-Darling Basin Commission in Australia, and the Mekong River Commission in southeast Asia, are structured similarly and have established similarly structured monitoring networks. The efficiency and effectiveness of these two networks differ however. The reasons for the differences are examined, and it is concluded that contrasting socio-economic development provides only part of the explanation. The technical capacity of each organisation's member states, the extent each organisation depends on its own databases and the developmental stage of each organisation itself are also critically important.