Social impact monitoring and vulnerability assessment (SIMCA) 2018: Report on 2018 baseline survey of the lower Mekong mainstream and floodplain areas

The Social Impact Monitoring and Vulnerability Assessment (SIMVA) 2018 survey was undertaken by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat with field surveys implemented by Member Countries. The SIMVA 2018 followed the methodology of the SIMVA 2011 baseline survey and the SIMVA 2014 survey on shocks and trends. The SIMVA 2018 survey primarily builds on these two previous exercises and aims to set a technical framework for decentralized SIMVA field data collection, with the expectation that responsibility will rest fully with Member Countries by 2033.

The objectives of SIMVA 2018 are:

• Provide regular information on the status and trends of the social conditions of the people in the corridor along the Mekong mainstream and around flooded areas, linked to changes in the Basin’s aquatic ecosystems.
• Provide data and information on social vulnerability (particularly food and livelihood vulnerability) linked to changes in water resources (e.g. agriculture, aquaculture, fish, other aquatic animals and plants), and people’s resilience in coping with those changes.
• Establish social impact indicators that reflect current socio-economic conditions and the extent of people’s dependence on water resources.
• Provide data for the MRC 2021–2030 cycle of the basin development planning and monitoring processes.