News
Cambodian farmers can no longer rely on the Tonle Sap lake
“I’ve seen lower yields on my farm each year since maybe 2017 or 2018 – there just isn’t enough water,” says Yoeum Yoeut. Yoeut, 52, is a lifelong resident of the Baran district in Cambodia’s northwest Battambang province. Her livelihood has always depended on the natural flooding ...
Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha
Mekong is at historical lows
The Mekong is once again at historical lows. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) gauge at Phnom Penh Port shows river level to be four metres below average for this time of year – and lower than last year’s record. This gauge is measuring river level on ...
Mark Hughes
Falling water levels affecting fish population
The Fisheries Administration has voiced concern over declining fish population caused by the decrease in water levels at lakes and rivers in the Kingdom. In an interview with a local media outlet, its director Hong Hy said yesterday the water levels in many important rivers in ...
Som Kanika
At a Cambodian Lake, a Climate Crisis Unfolds
When I first met Ly Heng in May 2016, the forest behind his house was still smoldering — the remnants of the worst drought to hit Southeast Asia in decades. Heng lived along a small river at the top of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, in a protected ...
Abby Seiff
Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake Under Threat
In July the Mekong River, the precious lifeline for four Southeast Asian countries and China’s Yunnan Province, fell to its lowest levels in 100 years, the victim of increasing climate change, agricultural runoff and a plethora of upstream dams that threaten its existence. The rains have ...
Sustaining the heartbeat of the Mekong Basin
The Mekong has another point of origin: the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. Each year life springs from the lake, mostly in the form of a massive fish population that migrates to the far reaches of the Mekong system both upstream and downstream. This annual ...
Brian Eyler, Courtney Weatherby
When There Are No More Fish
Climate change, drought, and development have devastated Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, which feeds millions across Southeast Asia[]Governments along the Mekong insist dams are necessary to supply electricity to growing populations and industries. The costs are steep. One model, carried out by a team from Stanford ...
Abby Seiff
Pollution, Overfishing Threaten Important Cambodian Lake
A rich fishery in Southeast Asia is at risk because of overfishing, pollution and hydroelectric dams. The Tonle Sap is a freshwater lake in the middle of Cambodia. The lake shrinks and expands by thousands of kilometers, depending on the season.[]“There are plans to build ...
Kevin Enochs
Japan wades in on Tonle Sap algae
The Japan International Cooperation Agency has agreed to oversee a project to help recover water quality in the Tonle Sap lake in response to the appearance of a large bloom of algae. The project is part of a wider five-year initiative to improve water quality in ...
US bombs recovered from Tonle Sap lake
A team of divers from the Cambodian Mine Action Center has recovered two large bombs dropped from US planes into Tonle Sap lake in Kampong Chhnang province. Heng Ratana, the director-general of the center, said the two 500-pound US-made MK82 aircraft bombs were found by his ...
