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Learn about the Greater Mekong Region, including the Mekong River, the threats it faces, what WWF is doing, and how you can help.
With over 1,300 species of fish, the Mekong River is the world’s most productive inland fishery. Providing livelihoods to 60 million people, this fishery accounts for up to 25% of the global inland catch, providing up to 80% of all animal protein in to the people of the Mekong River basin.
What’s more, the Mekong River — which is home to at least 1,100 freshwater species — accounts for up to 25% of the global freshwater catch making it the world's largest inland fishery. Few places on the Earth demonstrate so dramatically the fundamental dependence of humans on natural ecosystems.
Water from the Mekong River sustains a rich array of wildlife. Its fisheries provide a livelihood for 60 million people. As a source of water and food, it touches the lives of more than 300 million people from over 100 ethnic groups. But now the river is under threat. And what happens next could affect everything that relies on it. What’s at stake?
Recent political upheavals in the Indochina region have, ironically, protected the Mekong basin from the dramatic changes in landscape and flood patterns that have damaged the ecology of many of the world’s rivers. The Mekong is still relatively intact.
The Mekong region is facing urgent challenges that threaten its rich biodiversity and the well-being of millions of people who rely on its ecosystems. Unsustainable production and consumption, along with rapid economic development, are driving these threats.
The Mekong River’s dazzlingly diverse fishes are critical for the health, food security and livelihoods of tens of millions of people across the region as well as the overall health of the river system, but they are under ever increasing pressure with one in five already threatened with extinction, according to a report published today by 25 ...
