The workshop highlighted that there are several structural challenges to improving water governance in the Mekong region. These are tied to broader political issues at the national and regional level. Despite these challenges workshop participants pointed to several possible steps to improve this situation:

1. Support the promotion of access to information, increase research on hydropower in the region, and support efforts to improve transparency.
2. Provide more support for regional and national level engagement of civil society and independent journalism.
3. Enforce compliance, improve procedures, and support legal systems. It was noted that a good entry point may be through environmental law rather than corruption and anti-corruption legal reform.
4. Improve support for whistleblowers, particularly at the community-level, in difficult political situations.