Save the Mekong
Photo: Maureen Bathgate/OxfamAUS
The mighty Mekong River is under threat. And so too are the lives of the 60 million people who depend on it for their survival.
Plans to build 11 hydropower dams on the river’s main stream will block major fish migrations and dramatically change the delicate biodiversity of the river and its surrounds. The Mekong has the world’s largest freshwater fishery and is its second-most biodiverse river.
Oxfam Australia is working together with local partners across the Mekong that have programs in all six countries of the region. We are ensuring that communities are included in major development decisions that affect their lives in terms of resource availability and potential impacts on the environment.
We are especially concerned with assessing the impacts of development on ethnic minority peoples and women, and seek to influence the drivers of this development who are the development banks, donor governments and the private sector.
We support a network of local organisations, non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society networks, linking grassroots village work with international and regional organisations.
Fishing is life in the lower Mekong
Home to over 1200 native fish species, with new species being found every year, the Mekong is a crucial source of food and therefore a means of making a living for local communities.
If the dams go ahead they will block the annual fish migrations, stopping them from getting to their breeding grounds and threatening their very existence.
Being unable to fish for income or food these many fishing communities will be forced to resettle. This often leads to poverty and deprivation. We are working with our partners to help save affected fishing communities.
Read more about how we're monitoring development in the Mekong.