Projects

The Tonle Sap Initiative: Future Solutions Now
Updated: 13 December 2007

	Table of Contents
The Setting The Tonle Sap Basin The Tonle Sap Initiative Tonle Sap Environmental Management Tonle Sap Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Tonle Sap Sustainable Livelihoods Tonle Sap Initiative Partnerships Project Administration Toolbox Tonle Sap Initiative Brochures News and Events Speeches Presentations Reports Gallery Links Contact Us

The Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It forms a natural floodplain reservoir in the depression of the Cambodian plain and is drained by the Tonle Sap River into the Mekong River near Phnom Penh. When the level of the Mekong River is high the flow of the Tonle Sap River reverses: water is pushed into the lake, raising its level by up to 10 meters and increasing its area from 2,500-3,000 square kilometers in the dry season to 10,000-16,000 square kilometers in the rainy season.

This unique hydrological cycle and the vast areas of seasonally flooded low forest and shrubs that it creates, in a tropical climate, result in a very high biodiversity of fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The Tonle Sap ecosystem is

• the main source of animal protein for much of the population of Cambodia, owing to the productive fisheries of the Tonle Sap
• a direct and irreplaceable source of livelihoods for more than 1 million people living on and around the Tonle Sap
• a seasonal breeding and nursery ground and forage area for fish that subsequently migrate to the Mekong River, providing thereby a regionally vital resource
• an environmental hotspot of global significance
• a reservoir from which water drains, in the dry season, to control salinity intrusion and conserve mangrove in the Mekong Delta.

However, high population growth is increasing the number of people to feed and consumptive use of the Tonle Sap Basin's resources is intense.