Giant acacia trees, greyed by death, stand submerged in the flooded forest around the Mekong River in northern Cambodia. It looks like a cyclone has torn through the area. But the cause of the trees’ demise is more insidious. For years, upstream dam operators, motivated by economic gains, have released too much water into the river during the dry season, leaving levels artificially high when the trees need to dry out, causing many to die.
The slow decline of this flooded forest, which connects to the river here and extends into neighboring Laos, is alarming. The forest plays a vital ecological role in what is an essential stretch of the world’s most productive river for fisheries. “This is the most important spawning ground for fish in the Mekong,” says Srey Somuichet, who directs the regional fisheries administration in Stung Treng, Cambodia.
In full: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/mekong-river-wetlands-fish-flood-conservation
