Abstract
The Mekong River basin faces a multitude of problems. Some of these are historical, but even with the welcome cessation of armed conflict in the region, there is increasing conflict over resource development. Changes to natural flow regimes are recognized as a major human impact to rivers throughout the world. The changes to the flow regime are the single greatest environmental change confronting the lower Mekong. Alterations to mainstream flows as a consequence of dams under construction, planned, or under consideration in China, Cambodia, and Thailand, and changes to tributary flows cause by dams under construction or planned in Lao and Viet Nam, could have widespread ecological and social impacts. After alteration to the flow regime, alienation of the floodplain is one of the most serious environmental changes confronting the people of the lower Mekong. Although the building of elevated roads has incidental impact, the creation of levees is of major concern. One negative consequence of flood plain alienation is exacerbated flooding elsewhere in the basin. Within the Mekong, there have been growing concerns about the impact of levee banks in the delta and on the border between Cambodia and Viet Nam.
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