Save the Mekong

Running for 2,700 miles from the Tibetan Plateau through the Yunan Provice of southwest China and on through Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the Mekong River is the 10th-longest river in the world. It drains an area of 307,000 square miles and discharges 114 square miles of water annually. The Mekong River basin is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world; in fact, only the Amazon River basin has a greater diversity of plant and animal life.

The people who live near the Mekong depend on it for many aspects of their livelihoods, including fisheries, agriculture, forestry, and transportation. But plans to build several hydroelectric dams along the river's lower mainstream threaten one of the world's richest fish migrations systems and put at risk the food security, nutrition, and income of hundreds of thousands of people.

Three McKnight grantees — the Center for Water Resources Conservation and Development, the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, and International Rivers — have joined forces in the Save the Mekong coalition to educate others and voice their concerns about the potentially devastating impact of the proposed dams.

This multinational coalition, with member organizations based in several Southeast Asian countries and the U.S., is successfully increasing awareness of river-related issues and supporting emerging efforts to influence official policies that foster sustainable river development.