Maintaining perspective of ongoing environmental change in the Mekong floodplains

The Mekong River remained hydrologically unregulated until recent decades and still harbors immense natural resources that are the basis of rural livelihoods. Research on how dams and climate change could alter the river has heightened in recent years, and while this research has led to important scientific concepts and increased discussion of sustainable development, it has done little to prevent the rapid environmental change in the Mekong floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam. Meanwhile, localized drivers of floodplain change (including overfishing, deforestation, and water infrastructure development) are impacting the environment in faster and more direct ways, potentially exacerbating the negative effects of regional factors such as hydropower and climate change. Sustainable development of the basin must include comprehensive science and implementable policy programs that integrate across regional and local scales and focus on clearly defined societal and policy goals, collection of critical data, capacity building of in-region scientific and policy institutions, effective law enforcement, and adaptable implementation strategies.