Regional Overview of Southern and Eastern Asia

Year: 2012

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General summary

Ten years after the first publication Irrigation in Asia in figures (FAO, 1999) which presented the results of the AQUASTAT survey performed in 21 countries in Asia, it appeared necessary to update the data and to identify the main changes in water use and irrigation that had occurred in the Southern and Eastern Asia. The countries forming the region were determined by the regional distribution given in FAO's Water Report 23 "Review of world water resources by country" (2003).

The 22 Southern and Eastern Asia countries have been grouped into four subregions, based on geographical and climatic homogeneity, which has a direct influence on irrigation. These subregions and the countries they include are:

• East Asia: China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Republic of Korea.
• South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
• Mainland Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam.
• Maritime Southeast Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Timor-Leste.

The previous survey (FAO, 1999) distinguished five subregions, including the Far East and Eastern Asia. The Far East was composed of two countries: Japan and the Republic of Korea. The present survey does not include Japan and the Republic of Korea has been included in East Asia, which thus replaces the Far East and Eastern Asia subregions of the previous survey. South Asia is the same as the Indian Subcontinent in the previous survey, but with the addition of Pakistan, which in the previous survey was included in the Near East region (FAO, 1997a). Mainland Southeast Asia is exactly the same as the Southeast subregion in the previous survey. Maritime Southeast Asia is the same as the Islands subregion in the previous survey, but now includes Timor-Leste, which at the time of the preparation of the previous survey was not yet an independent country.

This regional overview presents distinguishing features arising from the new data collected on a national scale for issues addressed in the twenty two country profiles and the four transboundary river basin profiles in the region. The interest of this new survey lies in the updating of data and in the trends during the last ten years.