World Wildlife Fund

Mekong River

Sampans meet at early morning market in the Mekong Delta where rivers converge. Vietnam.
© WWF-Canon/Elizabeth KEMF

Facts

• The longest river in Southeast Asia, the Mekong, rises on the Tibetan Plateau and runs 4,500 kilometers through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
• The river basin is 800,000 square kilometers and encompasses an extraordinary range of geographical features including mountainous tropical evergreen forests in Vietnam and Laos, dry open woodlands and riverine wetlands in Cambodia and Thailand.
• The Mekong River is second only to the Amazon in freshwater species diversity, with an estimated 1,300 species of fish, including the Mekong Giant Catfish, the world's largest freshwater fish.

Conservation Issues

• Compared to many great rivers, much of the Mekong is relatively unspoiled. However, it is under increasing pressure from hydroelectric dams, overfishing, mining, and unsustainable agricultural development on its banks. Poorly planned roads, bridges and levees lead to sedimentation and aggravate flooding.
• The impacts of these threats are made evident by studies of the declining populations of Mekong Giant Catfish and the Mekong Dolphin. There are fewer than 80 dolphins left in the Mekong River.

What the Partnership Will Do

• Establish watershed restoration and community natural resource management projects at the Chi River (Thailand) and the Mekong Delta (Vietnam).
• Build on field work to influence markets and water resource management policies across the Mekong basin.
• Partner with Coca-Cola bottlers Thai Pure Drinks Limited and SABCO to promote more sustainable sugar production and watershed stewardship.