Along the Mekong, fishers and farmers battle a plastics catastrophe

With global treaties long delayed, Mekong residents are trying to prevent plastic waste from destroying their environment.
RFA Investigative
2024.12.25
Along the Mekong, fishers and farmers battle a plastics catastrophe Children swim at the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in Phnom Penh as workers clear the banks of Chroy Changvar of plastic waste. From March 2022 to September 2024, River Oceans Cleanup collected approximately 1,860 tons of plastic waste from Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers.
RFA

A monsoon storm brewed above Boonrat Chaikeaw as he cast his net into the endless tide of trash in the Mekong River on one day in June. He brought home more plastic than fish over six trips into the polluted waters of the Golden Triangle between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

Below the Golden Triangle, at the center of the river’s lower basin, children swam among plastic debris as workers cleared the riverbanks of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh – with identical plastic pick-up efforts on Tonle Sap lake, known as the “beating heart of the Mekong.”

Further downstream, in Vietnam, the river spiderwebs into the tributaries, swamps and islands that comprise the Mekong Delta. In Can Tho, which lies along a Mekong tributary, fish farmers are relieved to no longer be living off a river besieged by plastic waste.

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Dozens of snakehead fish leap out of the water during feeding time at a fish farm on Son island in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. [RFA]

The Mekong River supports millions of people along its 4,300-kilometer (2,700-mile) path from its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau through Southeast Asia and eventually into the South China Sea.

But its size and the politics of shared management have made it particularly susceptible to plastic pollution. 

Globally, the Mekong River is among the waterways most responsible for such waste reaching the world’s oceans. The waste isn’t simply unsightly. Plastic pollution threatens thousands of species that rely on a free-flowing river while human consumption of microplastics poses a growing health concern. 

Many hoped that a United Nations-led Global Plastic Treaty would ease the plastic pressures on rivers, but disagreements over plastic production and chemical use left the supposed landmark treaty unsigned earlier this month.

Negotiators now look to the sixth meeting, scheduled for sometime next year, to finalize the treaty. But even if a deal is closed, it may still be years before tangible solutions reach Mekong nations.

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A lone fishing boat drives down the Ruak River towards the Golden Triangle between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. As the gateway to the Mekong River’s lower basin, the Golden Triangle has been identified as a key location in the region’s efforts to reduce plastic waste entering the waterway. [RFA]

In the meantime, many living along the Mekong are not waiting for global action. 

Four plastic waste hotspots along the Mekong’s lower basin – Chiang Saen in Thailand, Phnom Penh and Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia and Can Tho in Vietnam – illustrate the efforts being made to address plastic pollution but also the ways plastic is changing the lives of river communities dependent on these waters.

“We’re addicted to plastics, now more than ever,” says Panate Manomaivibool, an assistant professor at Thailand’s Burapha University who has studied plastic waste in the Mekong’s transboundary regions. “Compared to the scale of the problem, attempts to fix it are tiny.”

THAILAND, MYANMAR AND LAOS | The Golden Triangle of the Mekong River

While the entire upper basin of the Mekong River flows through China, where the waterway is known as the Lancang, the Golden Triangle region between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos acts as the gateway to the lower basin.

The meanderings of the Mekong across these three countries act as a politically recognized natural border between nations, showcasing the Mekong’s transboundary nature and the politics involved in managing such a natural resource.

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Stormclouds brew above Boonrat Chaikeaw as he casts his net into the Mekong River by Chiang Khong by the border of Thailand and Laos. Trash often floats down the river, forcing fishermen to spend more of their time detangling plastic from their nets. [RFA]

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On their daily morning walk, a group of mahouts remove plastic waste from the Ruak River as two Asian elephants take baths in the river. “The trash is mixed – plastic bags, bottles, food wrappers – the smell of food can tempt the elephants,” says Poonyawee Srisantear, the elephant camp manager. “They sometimes try to eat it, which can harm their health.” [RFA]

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An endless stream of trash floats down the Ruak River into the Mekong. “We are the first generation facing this problem on this scale. Our ancestors, even our parents, were never exposed to this level of plastic pollution,” says Panate Manomaivibool, whose past research on large waste samples in the Golden Triangle determined that 91% of the waste was plastic, with labels indicating around 30% originated in Myanmar and nearly 20% in China. [RFA]

CAMBODIA | The Beating Heart of the Mekong Basin

After winding its way past Myanmar and between Thailand and Laos, the Mekong flows into Cambodia.

The nation’s capital Phnom Penh is situated at the confluence of the Mekong and its tributaries, the Bassac and Tonle Sap rivers. More than 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest is the great Tonle Sap lake, known as “the beating heart of the Mekong” because of its unique flood pulse. 

Rains from the annual monsoon season from May to October swell the size of the lake to roughly five times its usual size. The force of this flood reverses the direction of the Tonle Sap river, which is the only waterway in the world with this natural phenomenon. When the water level drops during the dry season, the river reverses once again. 

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A group of workers from River Ocean CleanUp dredge piles of plastic from the riverbanks of Phnom Penh. “Most people don’t know how to dispose of their waste properly. They just throw it everywhere,” says Srey Toch, a garbage picker with the NGO. [RFA]

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A fishing boat from Kampong Phluk, one of the floating villages on Tonle Sap lake, flashes past the rotor of another vessel put out of commission by a plastic jam. “It is a very visible issue because the lake is at the bottom of every city and river, so all the waste flows in,” says Sea Sophal, director of nongovernmental organization Bambooshoot, which organizes plastic pick-ups on the lake. [RFA]

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Students volunteering with Bambooshoot pick up trash in Kampong Phluk, one of the floating villages on Tonle Sap lake. Since becoming Cambodia’s environment minister last year, Eang Sophalleth has prioritized cutting back on plastic pollution, launching a national anti-plastics campaign. “Plastic is our No. 1 enemy,” he said in a September speech. “If we clean up plastics, downstream communities like Vietnam will be grateful. We’ll all benefit.” [RFA]

VIETNAM | Where the Mekong Meets the Sea

Past Phnom Penh, the Mekong flows south to the Cambodia-Vietnam border and eventually reaches through the urban sprawl of Ho Chi Minh City.

Here, the mainstem of the Mekong River branches out into tributaries, swamps, and islands to create the Mekong Delta, known as Vietnam’s “rice bowl.” Nutrients flowing in from the Mekong have made the region’s fertile farmland part of a multimillion-dollar rice industry. But with plastics following the same path, those farms face increasing threat. 

The delta’s largest city, Can Tho, has now become the epicenter for the region’s waste issues.

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Tangled with water hyacinth, plastic waste in varying forms can contribute to the flooding of Can Tho City by the Mekong Delta during Vietnam’s rainy season. Nguyen Cong Thuan, a researcher at Can Tho University’s College of Environment and Natural Resources, says: “We’re still trying to understand the full scale of the problem, but the longer that takes and the more we learn about plastics, the more the problem also grows.” [RFA]

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Trung Tin, a second-generation rice farmer with more than 20 years of experience in the delta, fishes out a used pesticide bottle. Farmers often leave piles of fertilizer and pesticide bottles by the corners of their fields, he says, explaining that most farmers are afraid to burn them out of fear of inhaling toxins. When it rains, many of the bottles wash into streams and canals that lead back into the delta. “I am scared when I eat fish, but I still eat it,” he says with a small shrug. [RFA]

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A fisherwoman flicks a piece of Styrofoam off the vegetables she is washing in the waters of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, underlining the growing fears surrounding the impact of plastic waste on the Mekong to human health. [RFA]

Funding for this reporting was provided by Dialogue Earth, an independent environmental reporting and analysis nonprofit. RFA retains full editorial control of the work. 

RFA Investigative is the investigative unit of Radio Free Asia (RFA), a news service affiliated with BenarNews.

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