Water

Country Water Action: Cambodia
Living with Floods on Tonle Sap Lake
(August 2004)

Life around Tonle Sap Lake, Southeast Asia's largest inland wetland, is intrinsically linked to the annual cycle of flooding. Designated a UN biosphere reserve because of its environmental importance, the Tonle Sap supports one of the most productive freshwater fisheries in the world.

Owing to a unique hydrological phenomenon, the Tonle Sap River draining the lake reverses its flow during the wet season when the waters of the Mekong River flow into the lake to inundate 1.0 million to 1.6 million hectares for several months a year.

Source: The Tonle Sap Great Lake: A Pulse of Life, FAO 2003.

Legend
Permanent water area
Seasonally inundated area
Watershed

The annual shifting of the shoreline of Tonle Sap Lake by some six kilometers due to the seasonal flooding has created a highly unusual living pattern for inhabitants around the lake which is illustrated in the photo essay "Living with Floods on Tonle Sap Lake".

The floating villages of Chong Kneas have become a picturesque tourist site for visitors to the nearby temples of Angkor. But for the people who live on the houseboats, it is a harsh existence. Despite the bounty of the lake, unequal access to the fishery has left the majority of fishers mired in poverty and the lake is under strong pressure from over-fishing, pollution and deforestation.

The Tonle Sap Initiative, a partnership of development agencies, international organizations, and NGOs, is undertaking specific actions to address the twin problems of poverty and environmental degradation of the lake. The government has also created community fishing zones covering 100,000 hectares, empowering communities to manage local fisheries. This holds the prospect of reversing deforestation and illegal fishing while providing increased food security for poor fishers.

View the photo essay.

Read the full story.

For other articles on Tonle Sap, visit http://www.adb.org/Projects/Tonle_Sap/articles.asp