Last Days of the Mighty Mekong

Eyler, Brian; Yeophantong, Pichamon

doi:10.1355/cs41-1k

Cited by 11 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Of the four regions that we analyzed; Tonle Sap may have the greatest legacy of past deforestation. The French colonials created a system of agricultural concessions around Tonle Sap Lake [78]. Further losses of flooded forest continued under Pol Pot in the form of slash and burn agriculture.…”

Section: Forest Loss In Floodplainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapidly Accelerating Deforestation in Cambodia’s Mekong River Basin: A Comparative Analysis of Spatial Patterns and Drivers

Lohani

Dilts

Weisberg

et al. 2020

Water

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The Mekong River is a globally important river system, known for its unique flood pulse hydrology, ecological productivity, and biodiversity. Flooded forests provide critical terrestrial nutrient inputs and habitat to support aquatic species. However, the Mekong River is under threat from anthropogenic stressors, including deforestation from land cultivation and urbanization, and dam construction that inundates forests and encourages road development. This study investigated spatio-temporal patterns of deforestation in Cambodia and portions of neighboring Laos and Vietnam that form the Srepok–Sesan–Sekong watershed. A random forest model predicted tree cover change over a 25-year period (1993–2017) using the Landsat satellite archive. Then, a statistical predictive deforestation model was developed using annual-resolution predictors such as land-cover change, hydropower development, forest fragmentation, and socio-economic, topo-edaphic and climatic predictors. The results show that almost 19% of primary forest (nearly 24,000 km2) was lost, with more deforestation in floodplain (31%) than upland (18%) areas. Our results corroborate studies showing extremely high rates of deforestation in Cambodia. Given the rapidly accelerating deforestation rates, even in protected areas and community forests, influenced by a growing population and economy and extreme poverty, our study highlights landscape features indicating an increased risk of future deforestation, supporting a spatial framework for future conservation and mitigation efforts.

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Section: Forest Loss In Floodplainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Vietnamese Army encouraged further destruction of the flooded forest to reduce hiding spots for the Khmer Rouge. About one half of the flooded forest were thought to have been lost by 1993 [78]. Hence, modern flooded forest loss continues amidst a historic backdrop of deforestation.…”

Section: Forest Loss In Floodplainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapidly Accelerating Deforestation in Cambodia’s Mekong River Basin: A Comparative Analysis of Spatial Patterns and Drivers

Lohani

Dilts

Weisberg

et al. 2020

Water

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“…It is hard to imagine a Mekong system where fishing is neither viable nor sufficient to sustain human life, where people view the river as more an impediment than a vital part of their livelihoods, and where environmental refugees wish to escape the impoverished wetlands. As Eyler (: 399) noted, ‘we need to see the river and the landscapes around it as a connected system’ if we to have any chance of saving it. Hence, it is our intention, echoing Miller's () call for human geographers to capture such political dynamism in the commons narrative and to develop deeper understanding of such vital socio‐ecological connections.…”

Section: The Unseen Made Apparentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The unseen transboundary commons that matter for Cambodia's inland fisheries: Changing sediment flows in the Mekong hydrological flood pulse

Grundy‐Warr

Lin

2020

Asia Pacific Viewpoint

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This paper focuses on the 'the unseen transboundary commons' of residues, nutrients and mobile matter associated with the annual flood pulse that support Cambodia's inland fisheries. We develop the idea of biophysical geopolitics concentrating on political-socio-natures rather than the purely biophysical. In the context of multiple mega-projects in the Basin, we argue the flood pulse has become increasingly compromised, which is an urgent socio-ecological security issue facing the Mekong region. Scores of livelihoods are dependent on the hydrological flood pulse via the reproduction of the inland fisheries, and a diversity of wetlands resources. Our paper builds on cross-comparative research focusing on a geo-strategic mouth of the Tonle Sap (Chhnok Tru) and a transborder area along the Mekong main-stream (Stung Treng, Cambodia -Champasak, Laos area). By viewing biophysical matter as becoming trans-border geopolitical matter, we wish to emphasise the critical socio-ecological character of the hydrological flood pulse, and the urgency of cumulative spatial and temporal changes affecting diverse wetlands communities. Loss of wild capture fisheries and the more unpredictable flows of the Mekong are signs of an emergent and dangerous era of increasing environmental insecurity.

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“…Likewise, the system significantly reduced their working time in the fields because the system is entirely closed. This implies that the VACB farmers "bring in nothing from outside of their farm, no pesticides, fertilizers, or antibiotics to maintain its productivity" (Eyler 2019). VACB farmers in Phong Dien stated that their daily life now includes feeding their livestock, tending their orchards, and filling biogas digesters with pig dung, water cabbage, or biomass.…”

Section: T-learning Helps To Increase Local Economic Diversity and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Diplomat (2017) reported that with almost 80 percent of the Mekong Delta's population engaged in agriculture and fishery, the local people tend to be quiescent, given the traditional notion that the state leads, and all should follow. Many farmers remain very superstitious, overly protective, and not open-minded (Eyler 2019). This fact appears to challenge new ideas or solutions.…”

Section: T-learning Helps To Increase Local Economic Diversity and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Transformative Learning as a Ground-Up Approach to Sustainable Development: Narratives from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

Quang¹,

Nhuong²,

Ho³

et al. 2019

AJAD

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As the Vietnamese government continues to seek appropriate actions to move the national action on climate change forward, the emergence of grassroots sustainability initiatives has the potential to promote sustainability from the ground up. This paper reviews the current concepts of transformative learning (T-learning) and its importance through which some substantial linkages between T-learning and sustainability can be identified. It outlines the environmental changes in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, which appear to serve as "disorienting dilemmas" that force the local people to learn and gradually transform their behaviors and lifestyle choices to align with a lowcarbon and sustainable development. In an ideal T-learning approach, the major beneficiaries are the small-scale farmers, women, and ethnic groups (learners). They learn by doing under the supervision of educators (experts) in field-based schools that offer real-life experience and encourage learners to shift from traditional farming practices to modern, eco-friendly agricultural models that promote local economic self-reliance and biodiversity conservation. The paper sheds new light on how a critical approach to education for sustainable development through T-learning is an appropriate form and why T-learning should be acknowledged as an important part of the broader approach to self-help, climate resilient development in vulnerable communities.

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Last Days of the Mighty Mekong

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Rapidly Accelerating Deforestation in Cambodia’s Mekong River Basin: A Comparative Analysis of Spatial Patterns and Drivers

Rapidly Accelerating Deforestation in Cambodia’s Mekong River Basin: A Comparative Analysis of Spatial Patterns and Drivers

The unseen transboundary commons that matter for Cambodia's inland fisheries: Changing sediment flows in the Mekong hydrological flood pulse

Transformative Learning as a Ground-Up Approach to Sustainable Development: Narratives from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

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