Mekong basin News

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During prolonged floods, many residents of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta are unable to grow and harvest crops. NGOs have stepped in to help with basic food supplies and cash during times of crisis. Image courtesy of Anh Duong Community Development and Support Center.

The world’s great deltas are sinking — and with them, a global food system

Petro Kotzé 6 May 2026
Fishers collect their nets on the Sesan River, just a few hundred meters from the O’Ta Bouk-Sesan confluence. Fishers who use the O’Ta Bouk told Mongabay that their catches have declined significantly over the past three years. Photo by Andy Ball/Mongabay.

Cambodia tested waters amid pollution claims; months later, still no public results

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 4 May 2026
The Golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis), a powerful migratory freshwater fish native to the Pantanal and Paraná River Basin, shown here being held by researcher Zeb Hogan. Highly prized by recreational anglers and important to commercial fisheries, the species has declined in parts of its range due to dam construction.

Migratory freshwater fish are in trouble: Will we act in time to save them?

Stefan Lovgren 1 May 2026
Most of Chi’s annual income comes from selling apricot blossoms — a symbol of luck and prosperity in Vietnam — around Lunar New Year.

Saline intrusion in Mekong Delta leaves farmers and scientists at odds

Minh L Tran 30 Apr 2026
Farmers sow rice in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

A nature-based solution to save the Mekong Delta’s water future (commentary)

Pham Phan Long 26 Mar 2026
Researcher Lisiane Hahn and colleagues have tagged and released piraíba fitted with tracking devices, generating new data that reveal previously undocumented migrations of this South American species. Image courtesy of Lisiane Hahn.

325 Long-neglected migratory freshwater fish species need protection now: Report

Stefan Lovgren 25 Mar 2026
Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia.

The promise and perils of the 1995 Mekong River Agreement (commentary)

Pham Phan Long 10 Mar 2026

Cambodian market survey a snapshot of a resilient — but stressed — Mekong

Stefan Lovgren 10 Mar 2026
Fishers in Takeo province rely on the annual flooding of wetlands where they raise and catch a variety of crustaceans. Image by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.

Farmers fear displacement, drought, flooding tied to Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal

Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 12 Feb 2026
A woman gathers plants along the banks of the Mekong River while a child plays in the background. Water levels of the mighty Mekong River have dropped drastically due to drought-like conditions and damming upstream. The drop disrupts the region’s water supply, transport routes, and the livelihood of communities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that more than one billion people will face water shortages due to climate change. Credit: © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

New mapping reveals hidden mining boom in Laos that threatens the Mekong

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Konlaphat Siri 10 Dec 2025
Satellite imagery from February 2025 shows the transformation of the landscape at Global Green's gold mine, which is believed to be contaminating the O'Ta Bouk River. Image provided by Google Earth, Maxar Technologies.

Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 24 Nov 2025
Flowing from Myanmar into Thailand, the Kok River carries toxic runoff from rare earth mines into Chiang Mai province. Image supplied by Brian Eyler.

More Thai rivers and downstream communities at risk from Myanmar’s rare earth mines

Mongabay 20 Oct 2025
In just a few months, Global Green have cleared vast swathes of forest in Prey Lang, opening the northern section of the wildlife sanctuary up to more potential deforestation. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Protected areas hit hard as Mekong countries’ forest cover shrank in 2024

Gerald Flynn 6 Oct 2025

Rare earth rush in Myanmar blamed for toxic river spillover into Thailand

Stefan Lovgren 9 Jun 2025
A fish release conducted for a recent study on fish migrations in the Mekong River.

Vital Mekong fish corridors tracked for first time, but funding cuts threaten future research

Anton L. Delgado 18 Apr 2025
The 2024 paper proposes Leopardus pardinoides, or the clouded tiger cat, as a new species. This small wildcat is found in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, south to Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Image courtesy of Johanes Pfleiderer. Article title - A tiger cat gains new species designation, but conservation challenges remain

Photos: Top new species from 2024

Liz Kimbrough 26 Dec 2024

Landmark report on migratory species underlines threats to Asia’s wildlife

Anton L. Delgado 12 Feb 2024

‘The police are watching’: In Mekong countries, eco defenders face rising risks

Hướng Thiện 18 Dec 2023
A dismembered tree in Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary documented in April 2023. Image by Andy Ball / Mongabay.

Communities track a path of destruction through a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary

Gerald Flynn, Andy Ball, Meng Kroypunlok 9 Oct 2023
An aerial view of a new road that leads from Think Biotech’s concession into the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary where illegal logging is taking place. Image by Andy Ball / Mongabay.

Logging route cut into Cambodia’s Prey Lang from Think Biotech’s concession

Gerald Flynn, Andy Ball, Meng Kroypunlok 5 Oct 2023
A path is cut deep into the core zone of Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia's Mondulkiri province following the government's approval of a new mining license in the protected forest. Photo by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.

Cambodia approves, then suspends, marble mine in Keo Seima REDD+ project

Gerald Flynn, Meng Kroypunlok 31 Aug 2023
Long-tailed macaque. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Skepticism as Cambodia expands protected areas by more than a million hectares

Gerald Flynn 29 Aug 2023
Huge logs are delivered daily to the Koh Kong provincial prison in Cambodia

Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms

Gerald Flynn 26 May 2023
Calotes goetzi

Greater Mekong proves an ark of biodiversity, with 380 new species in a year

Liz Kimbrough 24 May 2023
Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia.

Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams

Carolyn Cowan 30 Mar 2023
Fishers pull in nets on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia

As hydropower dams quell the Mekong’s life force, what are the costs?

Carolyn Cowan 29 Mar 2023

For Thai fishers facing dwindling catches, a Lao dam looms large

Tom Fawthrop 10 Jun 2022

For Mekong officials fighting timber traffickers, a chance to level up

John Cannon 13 Dec 2021

In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site

Tom Fawthrop 10 Dec 2021

Study puts 2050 deadline on tipping point for Mekong Delta salinity

Zoe Osborne 22 Jul 2021

Award-winning Thai community continues the fight to save its wetland forest

Carolyn Cowan 11 Jan 2021
A sawmill near the Think Biotech concession.

Cambodian firm accused of creating a ‘monopoly in the timber business’

Danielle Keeton-Olsen 13 May 2020

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