Villagers lend helping hand to community
SURASAK GLAHAN
Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Stung Treng, Cambodia - Thai villagers from Nakhon Phanom have lent their local wisdom to Cambodians living along the Mekong river, helping them learn about and protect their local fishery, which has seen a drastic decline in fish species in recent years. Conservationists have voiced concern that the construction of dams in upper Mekong countries poses a threat to Cambodia's northeastern province of Stung Treng, as well as other wetland sites located along and adjacent to the river. But villagers from Thailand have been to Stung Treng in a bid to help their neighbours.
They were from several villages in the Songkhram river basin in Nakhon Phanom, and they met residents of four villages in Stung Treng, sharing their methodologies for conducting their own Tai Baan research and exchanging conservation lessons.
Research and conservation efforts in Thailand helped to raise Thai villagers' awareness of environmental and forest protection, said 53-year-old Surachai Narongsri.
''I thought the Cambodians would benefit from us sharing our experience,'' he said, adding that language was not a barrier because they could communicate with simple terms.
The management of resources in the Songkhram river is a successful project of the Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity and Sustainable Use Programme (MWBP).
It is a joint programme of development agencies including the United Nations Development Programme and the World Conservation Union.
Its research on identifying the number of fish in the Songkhram river was published last November.
The Songkhram, a large river in the upper Northeast, starts on the Phu Phan mountains and stretches 420km, passing Udon Thani, Nong Khai, and Sakon Nakhon. It adjoins the Mekong river in Nakhon Phanom's Tha Uthen district.
Chainarong Sretthachau, an adviser to the MWBP, said it was vital to engage local people in conservation activities. ''It couldn't be achieved without their cooperation and awareness, and this should begin with realising the importance of their wisdom,'' he said.
The initiative has also been applied to other wetland sites designated by the MWBP for conservation, in Attapeu in Laos and the Plain of Reeds in Vietnam, as well as Stung Treng.
Stung Treng is located in the upper Cambodian reaches of the lower Mekong. The wetland was declared a Ramsar site in 1999. The Convention on Wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.
The site extends 37km along the Mekong, from six kilometres north of Stung Treng town to three kilometres south of the Lao border. The site is home to more than 10,000 people.
Villagers there have recently come up with their research findings. ''Conducting our own research helps us to know which fish species are decreasing. I will plan with my neighbours on how to conserve the natural resources of my community,'' said villager Keoung Vuth.
According to the findings, there are 120 fish species in the site. Five of them are classified as abundant, 32 as rare, 80 as medium and two as endangered.
The villagers believe excessive and illegal fishing to accommodate commercial needs in other big cities such as Phnom Penh had resulted in the decline in fish numbers.
But Witoon Permpongsacharoen, director of Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (Terra), said in Bangkok that such factors only played a minor role. Instead, he said, activities instigated by dams in the upper Mekong countries, especially those in China, had caused non-seasonal fluctuation, changing the ecosystem of the river and its tributaries and wetland areas.
''One unique characteristic of fish species in the Mekong is their seasonal migration which connects the entire ecosystem,'' said Mr Witoon.
These dams have brought about daily fluctuations instead of the seasonal one, he said.
Spawning of aquatic animals which migrated during the rainy season is affected when the water level is unnaturally lowered on a daily basis, he said.
''Dams in China, Laos and Vietnam have brought about an accumulative and cross-border impact on the environment. It also lowers water quality,'' he said.
''And the first impact is a decrease in the fish population.''
It is worrying, he said, to learn that many more dams are also set for construction in these countries.
These projects are intended for electricity production without taking the need for ecological protection of the Mekong into consideration, he said.
''The projects affect six million people whose livelihoods do not depend on the dams but on the Mekong river,'' he said. ''This is simply because they are farmers and fishermen.''
They were from several villages in the Songkhram river basin in Nakhon Phanom, and they met residents of four villages in Stung Treng, sharing their methodologies for conducting their own Tai Baan research and exchanging conservation lessons.
Research and conservation efforts in Thailand helped to raise Thai villagers' awareness of environmental and forest protection, said 53-year-old Surachai Narongsri.
''I thought the Cambodians would benefit from us sharing our experience,'' he said, adding that language was not a barrier because they could communicate with simple terms.
The management of resources in the Songkhram river is a successful project of the Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity and Sustainable Use Programme (MWBP).
It is a joint programme of development agencies including the United Nations Development Programme and the World Conservation Union.
Its research on identifying the number of fish in the Songkhram river was published last November.
The Songkhram, a large river in the upper Northeast, starts on the Phu Phan mountains and stretches 420km, passing Udon Thani, Nong Khai, and Sakon Nakhon. It adjoins the Mekong river in Nakhon Phanom's Tha Uthen district.
Chainarong Sretthachau, an adviser to the MWBP, said it was vital to engage local people in conservation activities. ''It couldn't be achieved without their cooperation and awareness, and this should begin with realising the importance of their wisdom,'' he said.
The initiative has also been applied to other wetland sites designated by the MWBP for conservation, in Attapeu in Laos and the Plain of Reeds in Vietnam, as well as Stung Treng.
Stung Treng is located in the upper Cambodian reaches of the lower Mekong. The wetland was declared a Ramsar site in 1999. The Convention on Wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.
The site extends 37km along the Mekong, from six kilometres north of Stung Treng town to three kilometres south of the Lao border. The site is home to more than 10,000 people.
Villagers there have recently come up with their research findings. ''Conducting our own research helps us to know which fish species are decreasing. I will plan with my neighbours on how to conserve the natural resources of my community,'' said villager Keoung Vuth.
According to the findings, there are 120 fish species in the site. Five of them are classified as abundant, 32 as rare, 80 as medium and two as endangered.
The villagers believe excessive and illegal fishing to accommodate commercial needs in other big cities such as Phnom Penh had resulted in the decline in fish numbers.
But Witoon Permpongsacharoen, director of Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (Terra), said in Bangkok that such factors only played a minor role. Instead, he said, activities instigated by dams in the upper Mekong countries, especially those in China, had caused non-seasonal fluctuation, changing the ecosystem of the river and its tributaries and wetland areas.
''One unique characteristic of fish species in the Mekong is their seasonal migration which connects the entire ecosystem,'' said Mr Witoon.
These dams have brought about daily fluctuations instead of the seasonal one, he said.
Spawning of aquatic animals which migrated during the rainy season is affected when the water level is unnaturally lowered on a daily basis, he said.
''Dams in China, Laos and Vietnam have brought about an accumulative and cross-border impact on the environment. It also lowers water quality,'' he said.
''And the first impact is a decrease in the fish population.''
It is worrying, he said, to learn that many more dams are also set for construction in these countries.
These projects are intended for electricity production without taking the need for ecological protection of the Mekong into consideration, he said.
''The projects affect six million people whose livelihoods do not depend on the dams but on the Mekong river,'' he said. ''This is simply because they are farmers and fishermen.''
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