The Mekong basin is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world

 The Mekong is the most important river for most of SE Asia as it crosses or borders, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and VietNam.  We will be using several sources and will give the links to them so you can do more research if interested.

Brief history on the Mekong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mekong is a trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia. It is the world’s 12th-longest river^[2] and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,703 mi),^[2] and it drains an area of 795,000 km²(307,000 sq mi), discharging 457 km³ (110 cu mi) of water annually.^[3]

From the Tibetan Plateau this river runs through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam established the Mekong River Commission to assist in the management and coordinated use of the Mekong’s resources. In 1996 China and Burma (Myanmar) became “dialogue partners” of the MRC and the six countries now work together within a cooperative framework.

The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in this river have made navigation difficult. The river is a major trading route linking China’s southwestern province of Yunnan to Laos, Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand to the south, an important trade route between western China and Southeast Asia.

Course

The Mekong rises as the Za Qu and soon becomes known as the Lancang (Lantsang) in the “Three Rivers Source Area” on the Tibetan Plateau in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve; the reserve protects the headwaters of, from north to south, the Yellow (Huang He), the Mekong, and the Yangtze Rivers.^[3] It flows through the Tibetan Autonomous Region and then southeast into Yunnan Province, and then through the Three Parallel Rivers Area in the Hengduan Mountains, along with the Yangtze to its east and the Salween River (Nujiang in Chinese) to its west.

The Mekong then meets the tripoint of China, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. From there it flows southwest and forms the border of Burma and Laos for about 100 kilometres (62 mi) until it arrives at the tripoint of Burma, Laos, and Thailand. This is also the point of confluence between the Ruak River (which follows the Thai-Burma border) and the Mekong. The area of this tripoint is sometimes termed the Golden Triangle, although the term also refers to the much larger area of those three countries that is notorious as a drug producing region.

From the Golden Triangle tripoint, the Mekong turns southeast to briefly form the border of Laos with Thailand. It then turns east into the interior of Laos, flowing first east and then south for some 400 kilometres (250 mi) before meeting the border with Thailand again. Once more, it defines the Laos-Thailand border for some 850 kilometres (530 mi) as it flows first east, passing in front of the capital of Laos, Vientiane, then turns south. A second time, the river leaves the border and flows east into Laos soon passing the city of Pakse. Thereafter, it turns and runs more or less directly south, crossing into Cambodia.

At Phnom Penh the river is joined on the right bank by the river and lake system the Tonlé Sap. When the Mekong is low, the Tonle Sap is a tributary; water flows from the lake and river into the Mekong. When the Mekong floods, the flow reverses; the floodwaters of the Mekong flow up the Tonle Sap.

Immediately after the Sap River joins the Mekong by Phnom Penh, the Bassac River branches off the right (west) bank. The Bassac River is the first and main distributary of the Mekong; thus, this is the beginning of the Mekong Delta. The two rivers, the Bassac to the west and the Mekong to the east, enter Vietnam very soon after this. In Vietnam, the Bassac is called the Hậu River (Sông Hậu or Hậu Giang); the main, eastern, branch of the Mekong is called the Tiền River or Tiền Giang. In Vietnam, distributaries of the eastern (main, Mekong) branch include the Mỹ Tho River, the Ba Lai River, the Hàm Luông River, and the Cổ Chiên River.

Drainage basin

The Mekong Basin can be divided into two parts: the ‘Upper Mekong Basin’ in Tibet and China, and the ‘Lower Mekong Basin’ from Yunnan downstream from China to the South China Sea.^[5] From the point where it rises to its mouth, the most precipitous drop in the Mekong occurs in Upper Mekong Basin, a stretch of some 2,200 km (1,400 mi). Here, it drops 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) before it enters the Lower Basin where the borders of Thailand, Laos, China and Burma (Myanmar) come together in the Golden Triangle. Downstream from the Golden Triangle, the river flows for a further 2,600 km (1,600 mi) through Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before entering the South China Sea via a complex delta system in Vietnam.^[5]

Upper basin

The Upper Basin makes up 24% of the total area and contributes 15 to 20% of the water that flows into the Mekong River. The catchment here is steep and narrow. Soil erosion has been a major problem and approximately 50% of the sediment in the river comes from the Upper Basin.

In Yunnan province in China, the river and its tributaries are confined by narrow, deep gorges. The tributary river systems in this part of the basin are small. Only 14 have catchment areas that exceed 1,000 km² (390 sq mi), yet the greatest amount of loss of forest cover in the entire river system per square kilometer has occurred in this region due to heavy unchecked demand for natural resources. In the south of Yunnan, in Simao and XishuangbannaPrefectures, the river changes as the valley opens out, the floodplain becomes wider, and the river becomes wider and slower.

Lower basin

Major tributary systems develop in the Lower Basin. These systems can be separated into two groups: tributaries that contribute to the major wet season flows, and tributaries that drain low relief regions of lower rainfall. The first group are left bank tributaries that drain the high-rainfall areas of Lao PDR. The second group are those on the right bank, mainly the Mun and Chi rivers, that drain a large part of northeast Thailand.

Laos lies almost entirely within the Lower Mekong Basin. Its climate, landscape and land use are the major factors shaping the hydrology of the river. The mountainous landscape means that only 16% of the country is farmed under lowland terrace or upland shifting cultivation.^[5] With upland shifting agriculture (slash and burn), soils recover within 10 to 20 years but the vegetation does not. Shifting cultivation is common in the uplands of Northern Laos and is reported to account for as much as 27% of the total land under rice cultivation.^[5] As elsewhere in the basin, forest cover has been steadily reduced during the last three decades by shifting agriculture and permanent agriculture. The cumulative impacts of these activities on the river regime have not been measured. However, the hydrological impacts of land-cover changes induced by the Vietnam War were quantified in two sub-catchments of the Lower Mekong River Basin.^[6]

Loss of forest cover in the Thai areas of the Lower Basin has been the highest in all the Lower Mekong countries over the past 60 years. On the Khorat Plateau, which includes the Mun and Chi tributary systems, forest cover was reduced from 42% in 1961 to 13% in 1993.^[5] Although this part of northeast Thailand has an annual rainfall of more than 1,000 mm, a high evaporation rate means it is classified as a semi-arid region. Consequently, although the Mun and Chi Basins drain 15% of the entire Mekong Basin, they only contribute 6% of the average annual flow.^[5] Sandy and saline soils are the most common soil types, which makes much of the land unsuitable for wet rice cultivation. In spite of poor fertility, however, agriculture is intensive. Glutinous rice, maize and cassava are the principal crops.^[5]Drought is by far the major hydrological hazard in this region.^[5]

As the Mekong enters Cambodia, over 95% of the flows have already joined the river.^[5] From here on downstream the terrain is flat and water levels rather than flow volumes determine the movement of water across the landscape. The seasonal cycle of changing water levels at Phnom Penh results in the unique “flow reversal” of water into and out of the Great Lake via the Tonle Sap River. Phnom Penh also marks the beginning of the delta system of the Mekong River. Here the mainstream begins to break up into an increasing number of branches.^[5]

In Cambodia, wet rice is the main crop and is grown on the flood plains of the Tonle Sap, Mekong, and Bassac (the Mekong delta distributary known as the Hậu in Vietnam) Rivers.^[5] More than half of Cambodia remains covered with mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forest, but forest cover has decreased from 73% in 1973 to 63% in 1993.^[5] Here, the river landscape is flat. Small changes in water level determine the direction of water movement, including the large-scale reversal of flow into and out of the Tonle Sap basin from the Mekong River.^[5]

Natural history

The Mekong basin is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. Only the Amazon boasts a higher level of biodiversity.^[3] Biota estimates for the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) include 20,000 plant species, 430 mammals, 1,200 birds, 800 reptiles and amphibians,^[8] and an estimated 850 freshwater fish species (excluding euryhaline species mainly found in salt or brackish water, as well as introduced species).^[9] The most species richness orders among the freshwater fish in the river basin are cypriniforms (377 species) and catfish (92 species).^[10]

New species are regularly described from the Mekong. In 2009, 145 new species were described from the region, comprising 29 fish species previously unknown to science, 2 new bird species, 10 reptiles, 5 mammals, 96 plants and 6 new amphibians.^[11] The Mekong Region contains 16 WWF Global 200 ecoregions, the greatest concentration of ecoregions in mainland Asia.^[3]

No other river is home to so many species of very large fish. The biggest include three species of Probarbus babs, which can grow up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) and weigh 70 kilograms (150 lb), the giant freshwater stingray(Himantura polylepis, syn. H. chaophraya), which can have a length of up to 4.3 metres (14 ft), the giant pangasius (Pangasius sanitwongsei), giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis) and the endemic Mekong giant catfish(Pangasianodon gigas). The last three can grow up to about 3 metres (9 ft 10 in) in length and weigh 300 kilograms (660 lb). All of these are in serious decline, because of dams, flood control and overfishing.

One species of freshwater dolphin, the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), was once common in the whole of the Lower Mekong but is now very rare, with only 85 individuals remaining.^[12]

Among other wetland mammals that have been living in and around the river are the smooth-coated otter (Lutra perspicillata) and fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).

The endangered Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) occurs in small isolated pockets within the northern Cambodian and Laotian portions of the Mekong River. The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) once ranged from the Mekong Delta up the river into Tonle Sap and beyond but is now extinct in the river, along with being extinct in all of Vietnam and possibly even Cambodia.

The fisheries

Aquatic biodiversity in the Mekong river system is the second highest in the world after the Amazon.^[13][14] The Mekong boasts the most concentrated biodiversity per hectare of any river.^[15]

The commercially valuable fish species in the Mekong are generally divided between ‘black fish’, which inhabit low oxygen, slow moving, shallow waters, and ‘white fish’, which inhabit well oxygenated, fast moving, deeper waters.^[16] People living within the Mekong river system generate many other sources of food and income from what are often termed ‘other aquatic animals’ (OAAs) such as freshwater crabs, shrimp, snakes, turtles, and frogs.

OAAs account for about 20 percent of the total Mekong catch.^[3] When fisheries are discussed, catches are typically divided between the wild capture fishery (i.e. fish and other aquatic animals caught in their natural habitat), and aquaculture (fish reared under controlled conditions). Wild capture fisheries play the most important role in supporting livelihoods. Wild capture fisheries are largely open access fisheries, which poor rural people can access for food and income.

Broadly, there are three types of fish habitats in the Mekong: i) the river, comprising all the main tributaries, rivers in the major flood zone and the Tonle Sap, which altogether yield about 30 percent of wild catch landings; ii) rainfed wetlands outside the river-floodplain zone, comprising mainly rice paddy in formerly forested areas and usually inundated to about 50 cm and yielding about 66 percent of wild catch landings; and iii) large water bodies outside the flood zone, including canals and reservoirs yielding about 4 percent of wild catch landings.^[3]

The Mekong Basin has one of the world’s largest and most productive inland fisheries.^{[13][17][18][19]} An estimated 2 million tonnes of fish are landed a year, in addition to almost 500,000 tonnes of other aquatic animals.^[20] Aquaculture yields about 2 million tonnes of fish a year.^[16]

Hence, the Lower Mekong Basin yields about 4.5 million tonnes of fish and aquatic products annually. The total economic value of the fishery is between USD 3.9 to USD 7 billion a year.^[3] Wild capture fisheries alone have been valued at USD 2 billion a year.^[18] This value increases considerably when the multiplier effect is included, but estimates vary widely.

An estimated 2.56 million tonnes of inland fish and other aquatic animals are consumed in the lower Mekong every year.^[16] Aquatic resources make up between 47 percent and 80 percent of animal protein in rural diets for people who live in the Lower Mekong Basin.^[18][21][22] Fish are the cheapest source of animal protein in the region and any decline in the fishery is likely to significantly impact nutrition, especially among the poor.^{[13][21][23][24]} The size of this impact has not been established^[23]

It is estimated that 40 million rural people, more than two-thirds of the rural population in the Lower Mekong Basin, are engaged in the wild capture fishery.^[3] Fisheries contribute significantly to a diversified livelihood strategy for many people, particularly the poor, who are highly dependent on the river and its resources for their livelihoods.^[17][18][22]

They provide a principal form of income for a large number of people and act as a safety net and coping strategy in times of poor agricultural harvests or other difficulties.^[17][18][22] In Lao PDR alone, 71 percent of rural households (2.9 million people) rely on fisheries for either subsistence or additional cash income. Around the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, more than 1.2 million people live in fishing communes and depend almost entirely on fishing for their livelihoods.^[3]

In Part 2 we will go over the dams already there and the ones being considered and the impact on the local people

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Tri Academies Vietnam and Cambodia – Mekong River Race.JPG