Trouble on the Mekong

Peak hour on the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam.

PHOTO: Jack Young via Unsplash

“Two reports released last month by The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental organisation that works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the river’s resources, serve as a crucial health check on the state of Southeast Asia’s longest river and the millions of people who depend on it for their livelihoods. The reports were released simultaneously. One focused on the status and trend of fish stocks in the river and the other surveyed households that live along it, with the findings all too familiar.

“The cumulative impacts of climate change, overfishing and hydropower dam development are having detrimental impacts on the many people who rely on the Mekong. The reports detail effects ranging from loss of family income due to declining fish catch numbers and increased damage caused by flooding and water infrastructure development, to gender inequality that disproportionately affects women’s ability to gain employment.”

Read more about what this means for countries along the Mekong in The Interpreter.