The final quarter of 2025 marked a period of steady progress for the GEF/UNDP/ASEAN Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project, as participating countries continued moving from planning toward implementation. Across the region, this transition was shaped by strengthened governance arrangements, deeper stakeholder engagement, and sustained awareness-raising efforts that anchored the Project more firmly at national and local levels.

The GEF/UNDP/ASEAN Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project continued to gain progress in the third quarter of 2025 with strengthened partnerships, wider knowledge sharing, and more active participation in amplifying best practices and local stories across the ASEAN region.

Now in its third year, the IRBM Project enters a pivotal phase in advancing integrated river basin management across Southeast Asia.

"Threads of Resilience” marks the sixth edition of the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project's newsletter, spotlighting inspiring narratives of women and advancements in project implementation. This issue features threads of resilience in the stories of women from the Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands of the Pasac-Guagua Watershed in the Philippines, alongside the impactful work of women leaders driving environmental change across Southeast Asia. It also highlights the need to conserve key project sites, including the Ciliwung River in Indonesia.

"Steering the Flow" is the fifth edition of the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project's newsletter, highlighting key milestones and meetings for the last quarter of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

“Making Waves from Source to Sea” is the fourth edition of the Integrated River Basin Management Project’s newsletter, which highlights the different levels of key activities and milestones for the second year of the Project across the region.

"Collaboration Beyond Boundaries" is the third edition of the Integrated River Basin Management Project, which highlights the coming together of governments and partners from ASEAN member states for the regional workshop on the State of River Basin and the 2nd Regional Steering Committee Meeting. Cooperation among national and local partners continue to drive the implementation of the Project in four priority river basins while the remaining three are gearing for implementation in the second half of 2024.

With the title "Connection and Voices: Setting the Sail in 2024," the second edition of the Integrated River Basin Management Project Newsletter highlighted the promotion of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) to ensure a more inclusive approach in the implementation of all project components. Hear from the voices of community and local partners on the issues confronting the river basins in their respective countries, and the importance of representing the marginalised and more vulnerable sectors in the community.

2023 marks the beginning of a breakthrough collaboration among six ASEAN member states (AMS) and development partners in Southeast Asia for the protection and management of select priority river basins that drain into four large marine ecosystems in the Southeast Asian Region, the Bay of Bengal, South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand and Indonesian Sea.

As we enter 2026, the GEF/UNDP/ASEAN Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project continues to advance coordinated actions on river basin and water resources management across the region. This January, the IRBM Project convened the Organizational Meeting of the Project Steering Committee in the Philippines to review governance arrangements and assess progress since 2023.