Cambodia Seeks UNESCO World Heritage Status to Protect a Mekong Biodiversity Hotspot

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From The Diplomat

By Tom Fawthrop

A bold Cambodian plan to secure World Heritage status along their stretch of the Mekong, where the free-flowing river has sustained some of the world’s greatest biodiversity, could provide much-needed respite to a river in danger of dying from dams and over-exploitation, experts say.

In Phnom Penh, the Environment Ministry’s Under-Secretary of State Neth Pheaktra shared their plan to secure UNESCO world heritage recognition for all the rich biodiversity to be found along the long stretch of the Mekong from the Lao border to the province of Kratie over 200 km downstream. 

Marc Goichot, a freshwater resources and Mekong specialist for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), welcomed the selection of this site. “The wide variety of habitats along this part of the Mekong in Cambodia creates perfect conditions for wildlife to thrive, making this area a miraculous area for freshwater biodiversity,” he said. WWF is assisting in the preparation of the government’s application to UNESCO.

Goichot sees the UNESCO proposal as an exciting step forward for the conservation of the planet’s rivers. “The planned Mekong World Heritage site would play a key role in protecting the planet’s biodiversity” because the selected site includes “95 deep pools that provide refuge for migrating fish and a spawning habitat for globally important critically endangered species including, Irrawaddy dolphins, giant stingrays and giant catfish.” 

Cambodia is already home to three heritage sites, including the legendary Angkor Wat and one natural heritage site, the successful U.N.-backed biosphere reserve and the bird sanctuary site on Tonle Sap, the biggest inland lake in the region. 

UNESCO experts in Phnom Penh expect that an application to add a biodiversity conservation zone along the Mekong as a natural heritage site would be fast-tracked, given that it could bring about an immense contribution to implementing agreements reached at COP15 of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference. 

Kampi village, just outside the town of Kratie, lies along a stretch of the Mekong best-known for its dolphin-watching and ecotourism activity. The area also ranks as one of the world’s richest biodiversity spots and is a sanctuary for many endangered species. WWF has listed over 411 fish species resident here (out of 11,00 for the whole Mekong River), along with 281 bird species and 46 reptile species. 

Apart from the 92 surviving Irrawaddy dolphins, wildlife experts were excited by the rarely-seen giant stingray landed by fishermen in 2022, a giant that mostly hangs out in the deepest pools of the river.

While the Ministry of Environment had been mapping out its plans to better protect one of the few undammed areas left on the Mekong, Okna Kith Meng – the chairman of the Royal Group, which built its fortunes from real estate, telecommunications, and partnering with international investors – has quietly secured permission from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, to carry out a feasibility study to revive the controversial Stung Treng dam. 

A plethora of scientific studies, dating back to the first attempt to build the Stung Treng dam in 2007, have so far dissuaded the government from going ahead with the project. The losses to fisheries, wildlife, and the rural livelihoods of hundreds of thousands would far outweigh any benefits in electricity, according to the most recent WWF report, published in 2018.

Another Cambodian project, the Sambor dam lying downstream from Stung Treng, was condemned as a recipe for “killing the Mekong” by the U.S.-based Natural Heritage Institute consultant report, which was leaked to the Guardian.

Many Cambodians struggle to understand why any company would want to resurrect a dam that has already been twice rejected, and which most Mekong watchers had assumed was dead and buried, after the announcement of the 2020 moratorium on dams.

Say Samal, the environment minister, delivered Cambodia’s progressive energy commitments to the COP26 summit in November 2021. Yet only six weeks later, this policy had been called into question when the Ministry of Mines and Energy quietly approved the Cambodian tycoon’s request to proceed with a feasibility study on resurrecting the Stung Treng dam. The study, approved in December 2021, was completed in June 2022 without any consultation with Stung Treng communities. 

Continues with photos at

https://thediplomat.com/2022/12/cambodia-seeks-unesco-world-heritage-status-to-protect-a-mekong-biodiversity-hotspot/