“The Mekong River, is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the sixth longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,909 km, and it drains an area of 795,000 km2, discharging 475 km3 of water annually. From the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The river is a major trade route between western China and Southeast Asia.”
“Aquatic biodiversity in the Mekong River system is the second highest in the world after the Amazon. The Mekong boasts the most concentrated biodiversity per hectare of any river. The Mekong Basin has one of the world's largest and most productive inland fisheries. An estimated 2 million tonnes of fish are landed a year, in addition to almost 500,000 tonnes of other aquatic animals. Aquaculture yields about 2 million tonnes of fish a year.”
“The earliest known settlements date to 210 BCE, with Ban Chiang being an excellent example of early Iron Age culture. The earliest recorded civilization was the 1st century Indianised-Khmer culture of Funan, in the Mekong delta. Excavations at Oc Eo, near modern An Giang, have found coins from as far away as the Roman Empire. This was succeeded by the Khmer culture Chenla state around the 5th century. The Khmer empire of Angkor was the last great Indianized state in the region.”
Southeast Asia’s largest delta, world’s third largest watershed
The Mekong River delta covers an area of about 60,000 km2 and comprises a dense network of canals and dykes. As global concern for the survival of deltas grows, the Mekong River delta, the world’s third largest delta, densely populated, considered as Southeast Asia’s most important food basket, and rich in biodiversity at the world scale, is also increasingly affected by human activities and exposed to subsidence and coastal erosion.
Saola
(Pseudoryx nghetinhensis)
Critically Endangered
Irrawaddy Dolphin
(Orcaella brevirostris)
Endangered
Asian Elephant
(Elephas maximus)
Endangered
Mekong Tiger Perch
(Datnioides undecimradiatus)
Vulnerable
Javan Rhinoceros
(Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus)
Critically Endangered
Mekong Giant Catfish
(Pangasianodon gigas)
Critically Endangered
850
freshwater fish species
The Mekong basin is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. Only the Amazon boasts a higher level of biodiversity. Biota estimates for the Greater Mekong subregion include 20,000 plant species, 430 mammals, 1,200 birds, 800 reptiles and amphibians, and an estimated 850 freshwater fish species. The most species rich orders among the freshwater fish in the river basin are cypriniforms (377 species) and catfish (92 species).
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Opportunity for Communers to participate in community driven ecological conservation and restoration projects in Mekong Delta region.