mekong river pollution

Along the way it passes through Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Mekong River originates in the Tibetan highlands and runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam before flowing into the South China Sea. A French man completed his swim down the Mekong River in Vietnam this month, after a 4,400 kilometer aquatic journey that began on the China-Tibet border. In 1985, in response to riparian concerns over potential water pollution and its transboundary implications, the Mekong River Committee, the forerunner of the MRC, commenced a water quality monitoring program in Laos, Viet Nam, and Thailand; Cambodia joined . Asia News Network | Publication date 04 March 2020 | 21:57 ICT. The Mekong Delta is a land carpeted in endless shades of greens, a magical water world that is being destroyed by climate change and environmental pollution, says the Vietnam Environment . Video length: 2 minutes 30 seconds. For the past several days Ly Minh Lam, a resident of Long My Town in the Mekong Delta province, has been unable to use water from the river for his family's straw mushroom garden. The National Geographic found that the Mekong River carries approximately 40,000 tonnes of plastic waste into the ocean - enough to fill 200 football fields annually. Pollution of drinking water sources with agrochemicals is often a major threat to human and ecosystem health in some river deltas, where agricultural production must meet the requirements of national food security or export aspirations. This is especially true when we consider the third target of SDG 6 — "By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing the . a biological monitoring program for the Mekong River basin. Leave a Comment Cancel reply. The polluted river affects some 1,648 people who depend on fishing for their livelihood and also poses […] afp. Luc Forsyth and Gareth Bright have set out on a journey to follow the Mekong river from sea to source. In addition . From its source in China's Qinghai Province near the border with Tibet, the Mekong flows generally southeast to the South China Sea, a distance of 4,200 km (2,610 mi). Prior to 1985, there was little systematic ambient water quality monitoring in any of the Mekong countries with the exception of Thailand. Some efforts have been made to mitigate the impacts of dams on fish populations, with the Xayaburi dam in Laos . Mekong plastic pollution on table. The Mekong River is threatened by a wide-range of global and local environmental impacts including climate change, pollution, agriculture, logging, the aquarium trade, urban development, and a rapidly rising human population. Name Email Website. The resource development and changes of hydrological regime, sediment and water quality in the Mekong River basin have attracted great attentions. The Mekong River has more than one thousand of fish species. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and potential ecological risk analysis were employed to assess heavy metal pollution status in the mainstream of the Mekong River. This research aimed to enhance the study on transboundary pollution of heavy metals in this international river. The Mekong is one of the most polluted rivers in the world, transporting an estimated 40 thousand tonnes of plastic into the world's oceans each year. This paper presents an overview of groundwater arsenic pollution in the Mekong delta: arsenic concentrations ranged from 1-1610 microg/L in Cambodia (average 217 microg/L) and 1-845 microg/L in southern Vietnam (average 39 microg/L), respectively. Efforts to clean up plastic waste along the Mekong river, one of the ten most polluted rivers in the world, are being put into action by the Greater Mekong Subregion countries. Where the Mekong River discharges into the South China Sea, it f orms the world's third largest delta plain w hich h as an area of over 40,500 square km (15,600 sq mi). In the Mekong Delta: Erosion, Pollution, and Millions of Shrimp . UN Environment Programme will build and deploy a new machine learning model capable of uncovering a more detailed and accurate view of plastic pollution in the river. A recent study has estimated that rivers transport . Ho Chi Minh City, 11 January 2022 - Coca-Cola Vietnam and The Ocean Cleanup today announced that the Can Tho river in Can Tho City has been selected as one of 15 river locations around the world as part of a global partnership between the two organizations to use advanced technology to . The Mekong River has 4900 Kilometers that are the longest river in Southeast Asia. Originating in the icy headwaters of the Tibetan highlands, the Mekong River flows through the steep canyons of China, known as the upper basin, through lower basin . Pollution: The Mekong River is becoming more polluted as a result of the agricultural and industrial chemicals and domestic untreated wastewater, which are discharged directly into open water bodies. Plastic pollution threatens the Mekong, a wildlife wonderland. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established on 5 April 1995 by the Agreement on The Cooperation for The Sustainable Development of The Mekong River Basin [MRC, 1995]. MRC maintains regular dialogue with the two upper states of the Mekong River Basin, China and Myanmar. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has partnered with Google to fight plastic pollution in the Mekong River, leveraging citizen science and machine learning to understand the magnitude of the problem impacting the longest river in Southeast Asia. Name Email Website. The heavily polluted Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, Thailand. July 21, 2021. April 22, 2020, 12:56 PM. The Mekong is one of 10 rivers that carry 88-95 per cent of plastics into the world's oceans, a study published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal says. As debate rages over the causes of and solutions to the drought, the government is building large reservoirs to deal with the increasingly dry delta. Essay About Mekong River. The 2500 mile-long lower Mekong river system supports more than 70 million lives and their food security but it's also one of the dirtiest in the world. Photo credit: ElsieNessie/Flickr. Almost all of the plastic waste. River Ocean Cleanup (ROC) is now focusing solely on local issues related to plastic pollution in Cambodia. Mekong River originated from the Himalayas mountain range. The Mekong River Commission's (MRC) effectiveness in resolving these tensions has so far been . The Japan-funded CounterMEASURE project works to identify sources and pathways of plastic pollution in river systems in Asia, particularly the Mekong and the Ganges. Comment. Research published in a 2018 report by the Mekong River Commission warned that hydropower development on the river would result in fish stocks declining dramatically, shrinking the total biomass by 35-40% by 2020 and 40-80% by 2040. In February, a workshop in Vientiane, Laos was hosted by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Regional Office for . Water in the river has turned black as a result and is also spreading foul smell. In addition, new dams could push endangered aquatic species such as the Mekong giant catfish further to the brink of . Members of a large fishing community in Naxab village, Naxaithong district, Vientiane, are appealing to authorities to address the problem of farms dumping animal waste in the Khon River, which they say is creating a threat to fishing. This Perspective challenges this sub-regional approach to the Mekong issues on two accounts: (i) The impact of the environmental crisis in the Mekong River ecosystem goes beyond the sub-regional confines and affects ASEAN's food security and climate change action as a whole; and (ii) The transboundary haze pollution provides an instructive . From the Tibetan Plateau this river runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Moreover, some families installed their toilets and/or pigs on the . Experts warn plastic pollution originating along a river like the Mekong, may make its way out to the sea, and ultimately "could end up on Australian shores". The Mekong is one of them. Consequences: Pollution and illegal fishing are threatening the Mekong's 1,200 species of freshwater fish and 800 species of reptiles and . Recommendation 5: that MRC collect all published and unpublished information on the biology and ecology of the Mekong River and its tributaries, and UNEP and partners have been working through the CounterMEASURE project to determine the sources of plastic pollution in the Mekong and Ganges rivers using a novel combination of technologies, including. The Mekong is one of the rivers that carries the most plastic into the world's oceans. It is the longest river in the region. Environmental pollution risks also come from cultivation, animal husbandry, aquatic and farm produce processing, craft villages, and industrial production. It is Southeast Asia's longest river, but 44% of its course is in China, a fact of . Poor planning and management, says the Environment Administration, along with the ineffective operation of waste treatment facilities have made protecting the Mekong Delta even more difficult. This is likely to have cascading effects. This study was performed to survey the use of different drinkin … 891 Words4 Pages. Specifically, ROC is conducting several projects on the Bassac, Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers as well as Cambodia's coastline. At its heart is the Mekong River. Scientists offer Thai government help determining the health of rivers. The Mekong's normal flow can be restored if large volumes of water are consistently and reliably released from Chinese dam reservoirs.However, China's water policy shows Beijing is unlikely to change its behavior and the worst for the Mekong is yet to come. For example, water scarcity is likely to lead to reduced agricultural productivity, which in turn is likely to lead to food scarcity, unemployment and poverty. Mekong River Pollution. Rémi Camus expressed concern to Thanh Nien over the many people he encountered who seemed to drink from a river they dumped waste into every day. Vientiane, Lao PDR, 13 February 2020 - In a bid to reduce plastic waste and fight plastic pollution in the Mekong region, government officials and researchers from the four Mekong countries agreed to assess plastic waste leakage into the Mekong River system in order to inform the current state of plastic pollutants in the region and offer policy recommendations to address the challenges. For people who depend on the river for fish and food, especially Laos, the vulnerable Mekong is an ecological time bomb waiting to explode. The Mekong River Delta is the largest rice-exporting region in Vietnam, accounting for 90 percent of the country's rice export volume and 70 percent of seafood output. In this study, eight sampling sites were selected to collect the bed sand samples along the mainstream of the Mekong River. The river flow rates into the Mekong River Delta were at a historical low in the last 100 years. Thousands of poor people in the north Cambodian communities of Preah Rumkel, O'Svay, the Mekong islands and Ramsar Wetlands live and depend on the Mekong River as their only source of water for drinking, cooking . July 30, 2021. For the Greater Mekong, climate change compounds existing and projected threats affecting the region's people, biodiversity and natural resources. Then and now it passes through or by China, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. 1 of 1. With their day to day activities, they are polluting the river water as they always throw waste in the river especially plastic waste. Severe pollution in southern Vietnam has caused water in a river in the Mekong Delta to turn black, killing fish and other marine life. Pollution of drinking water sources with agrochemicals is often a major threat to human and ecosystem health in some river deltas, where agricultural production must meet the requirements of national food security or export aspirations. Severe pollution in southern Vietnam has caused water in a river in the Mekong Delta to turn black, killing fish and other marine life. The resource development and changes of hydrological regime, sediment and water quality in the Mekong River basin have attracted great attentions. The Mekong is reeling from the combined onslaught of climate change, sand-mining, and incessant damming of the river, which combined to help cause the worst drought recorded in over 100 years in July. Wed, 4 March 2020. This research aimed to enhance the study on transboundary pollution of heavy metals in this international river. Video genre: Interview. The surface is coated in oil spills, the water spotted with . A section of the Cai Lon River in Hau Giang Province has turned black and foul-smelling, killing fish and contaminating local water sources. The discussion involved finding methodologies to assess plastic waste . Google helps tackle plastic pollution in the Mekong River, aided by machine learning. It is home to the world's . The Mekong is one of the rivers that carries the most plastic into the world's oceans. Due to the weather changes resulting from El Nino, the entire Mekong basin had to endure a very severe dry season in 2015-2016 with the Mekong Delta having experienced particularly serious impacts of the drought. By Umair Jamal. Mekong, a major river and key r egion in g lobal plastic pollution, with potential to release large quantities of plastics to the ocean and sensitive fresh water eco- Leave a Comment Cancel reply. Scene summary: A news report showing the plastic problem that Thailand and the Mekong River is facing. The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia.It is the world's twelfth longest river and the sixth longest in Asia. However, our research since 2007 in Viet Nam's Mekong River Delta region suggests that many of the headline figures relating to water quality only tell part of the story. The Mekong basin is witnessing an enormous expansion of dam-building for hydropower generation, especially in China and Laos. The Mekong River is the world's 12 th longest river and the 7 th longest in Asia. The following biota should be considered - fish, macroinvertebrates, algae and macrophytes. Water pollution in Mekong River # 10 T he Mekong Delta may be submerged by 2030 . Mekong River Pollution. His journey to implement the 'Green River' project started in October 2021 when he joined the Vietnam Climate Leadership Initiative, a programme jointly implemented by UNICEF, the Saigon Innovation Hub, and CHANGE (a . Harmony Patricio told mongabay.com: Dams are just one piece; there are a lot of other changes happening in the system. By 2050, the regional population will grow by >110 million people, increasing waste in the coral triangle, the most biodiverse marine area on our planet, situated near the Mekong's mouth. Aided by technical advisory support from Google, the CounterMEASURE project will build and deploy a new machine learning model […] Residents living near the Cai Lon River in Hau Giang Province claim that a sugar factory located by the river has been discharging untreated effluent, VN Express reported. You might come across a dolphin that is known to communicate with humans to coordinate fishing . Natural fluctuations disrupted. This has made the Mekong a natural divider, rather than unifier, of the various populations that live near its waters. TRANSBOUNDARY WATER CONFLICT: A CASE STUDY OF THE MEKONG RIVER BASIN Author: Sovannarith Keo Background Among the 264 international river basins in the world which cover almost half of the earth's land surface, widely known for its original name in Khmer language as the 'Mother of Waters,' the Mekong is the eight largest river in the world in terms of discharge and twelfth in terms of . To help address the mounting problem, a team of researchers from the University of Hull are documenting how… Agriculture and food security are the sectors most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The Mekong, which courses through the very heart of inland South-East Asia, is home to the world's largest freshwater fisheries, about 800 different native species. UNEP and partners have been working through the CounterMEASURE project to determine the sources of plastic pollution in the Mekong and Ganges rivers using a novel combination of technologies, including. Trigger. The Mekong River, undeveloped before 1990, is undergoing rapid construction of many dams, mostly in China, but also in many other areas of the Lower Mekong River as well as its tributaries (Kondolf et al., 2014). This study was performed to survey the use of different drinkin … Its rich biodiversity is . A regional workshop was recently held to discuss plastic pollution in the Mekong River. Consequences: Pollution and illegal fishing are threatening the Mekong's 1,200 species of freshwater fish and 800 species of reptiles and . Around 40 to 50 families are living and selling their production along the Mekong River in front of Sambour market. Mekong River Pollution. Photo: Reuters/Chor Sokunthea The project will also examine the effects of plastic pollution - including microplastics - on the migratory species that exist in the Mekong River Basin, such as the Irrawaddy dolphin, the Mekong . It also evaluates the situation in Red River delta where groundwater arsenic concentrations vary . The challenge of climate change and urbanisation will together exacerbate water scarcity, hitting the Mekong basin cities with a double whammy in environmental challenges. A fisherman floats on the Mekong River in Pak Chom district in the northeastern Thai province of Loei on Oct. 31, 2019. Its fisheries provide a livelihood for 60 million people. The present state of water pollution of the Mekong River on the border between Laos & Cambodia is a serious cause of concern. Water in the river has turned black as a result and is also spreading foul smell. Its estimated length is 4,350 km and it drains an area of 795,000 km 2 , discharging 457 km 3 of water annually. Hosted by the Mekong River Commission and the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Vientiane, the workshop united 50 government officials and researchers from Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, VnExpress reports. 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