The plan, adopted on May 22, the last day of the three-day ministerial meeting on transboundary freshwater in Bangkok, Thailand, requires each participating country to draft an action plan for better management of international rivers.

There are 263 international rivers in 155 countries, which account for 60 percent of the freshwater in the world. The national action plan must be completed before the next meeting, in Bangkok in 2011.

The Bangkok Plan of Action, which is not legally binding, also calls for closer cooperation on river basin management.

Delegates agreed that all activities involving transboundary water resources, particularly the construction of dams, must take into consideration ecological and social impacts, Siripong Hungspreug, director-general of the Water Resources Department, was quoted by the Bangkok Post newspaper as saying.

To achieve the sustainable management of transboundary water resources, local river basin organisations need political, technical and legal support from UN agencies, such as the United Nations Environment Programme, said Siripong.

A system was needed to better manage water resources, the environment and socio-economic development in the Mekong river basin, which feeds about 80 million people in six countries, namely Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.