Cambodia’s new canal could boost trade but risks harming key river

PREK TAKEO, Cambodia — 

The Mekong River is simply a lifeline for millions successful the six countries it traverses connected its mode from its headwaters to the sea, sustaining the world's largest inland fishery and abundant atom paddies connected Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

Cambodia's program to physique a monolithic canal linking the Mekong to a larboard connected on its ain seashore connected the Gulf of Thailand is raising alarm that the task could devastate the river's earthy flood systems, worsening droughts and depriving farmers connected the delta of the nutrient-rich silt that has made Vietnam the world's third-largest atom exporter.

Cambodia hopes that the $1.7 cardinal Funan Techo canal, being built with Chinese help, volition enactment its ambition to export straight from factories on the Mekong without relying connected Vietnam, connecting the superior Phnom Penh with Kep state connected Cambodia's confederate coast.

At an August 5 groundbreaking ceremony, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the canal volition beryllium built "no substance what the cost." By reducing costs of shipping to Cambodia's lone deep-sea port, astatine Sihanoukville, the canal volition promote, "national prestige, the territorial integrity and the improvement of Cambodia," helium said.

Along with those promises comes peril. Here is simply a person look.

The menace to the Mekong

The Mekong River flows from China done Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It supports a fishery that accounts for 15% of the planetary inland catch, worthy much than $11 cardinal annually, according to the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund. Flooding during the bedewed play makes the Mekong Delta 1 of the world's astir productive workplace regions.

The stream already has been disrupted by dams built upstream successful Laos and China that restrict the magnitude of h2o flowing downstream, portion rising seas are gnawing distant astatine the confederate edges of the climate-vulnerable Mekong Delta.

Brian Eyler, manager of the Washington-based Stimson Center's Southeast Asia Program, warns that precocious embankments on the 100-meter-wide, 5.4-meter-deep canal volition forestall silt-laden floodwater from flowing downstream to Vietnam. That could worsen drought successful Vietnam's atom vessel and Cambodia's floodplains, an country stretching implicit astir 1,300-square kilometers.

The presumption from Vietnam's atom bowl

A drier Mekong Delta is simply a interest for Vietnam's cultivation sector, which powers 12% of its economy. The southwestern provinces of An Giang and Kien Giang would apt beryllium astir impacted. The delta's latticework of rivers crisscrossing greenish fields is captious for Vietnam's ain plans of increasing "high quality, debased emanation rice" connected 1 cardinal hectares of farmland by 2030. The purpose is to chopped earth-warming greenhouse gases, little accumulation costs and summation farmers' profits.

Water from the stream is "essential" not conscionable for Vietnam's much than 100 cardinal radical but besides for planetary nutrient security, said Nguyen Van Nhut, manager of atom export institution Hoang Minh Nhat.

Vietnam's exports of 8.3 cardinal metric tons of atom successful 2023 accounted for 15% of planetary exports. Most was grown successful the Mekong Delta. The magnitude of silt being deposited by the stream has already dropped and further disruptions volition worsen salinity successful the area, hurting farming, Nhat said.

"This volition beryllium a large interest for the agriculture assemblage of the Mekong delta," helium said.

Cambodia's view

Cambodia says the canal is simply a "tributary project" that volition link to the Bassac River adjacent Phnom Penh. President Hun Sen claimed connected societal media level X that this means determination would beryllium "no interaction connected the travel of the Mekong River."

But blueprints amusement the canal volition link to the Mekong's mainstream and successful immoderate lawsuit the Bassac consists wholly of h2o from the Mekong, Eyler said.

Cambodian authorities are downplaying the imaginable biology impacts of the project. "This is their logic-defying ground for justifying nary interaction to the Mekong River," helium said.

A papers submitted successful August 2023 to the Mekong River Commission — an enactment formed for practice connected issues regarding the Mekong — does not notation utilizing h2o from the canal for irrigation, though Cambodia has since said it plans to bash so. The Stimson Center added it was "logical" that irrigation would beryllium needed during adust months, but that would necessitate negotiating an statement with the different Mekong countries.

The Mekong River Commission told The Associated Press each large projects connected the Mekong River "should beryllium assessed for their imaginable transboundary impacts." It said it was providing method enactment to "increase transparency and practice among acrophobic countries."

Sun Chanthol, the Cambodian lawman premier curate who oversees the project, didn't respond to a petition for comments.

Nationalistic rhetoric and tense neighbors

Cambodia has rejected disapproval of the canal, which is wide seen arsenic an effort by the country's ruling elite to curry enactment for Prime Minister Hun Manet, who succeeded his begetter Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for 38 years.

The canal is to beryllium built jointly by Chinese state-owned operation elephantine China Road and Bridge Corporation and Cambodian companies. But it is enveloped successful nationalistic rhetoric. The canal would supply Cambodia a "nose to respire through" by reducing its dependence connected Vietnam, Hun Sen has said.

Vietnam has avoided openly criticizing its neighbor, alternatively communicating its concerns quietly. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said astatine a property league successful May that Hanoi had asked Cambodia to stock accusation and measure the biology impacts of the task to "ensure the harmony of interests" of Mekong countries.

Many Cambodians stay suspicious of Vietnam's intentions, believing it whitethorn privation to annex Cambodian territory. Given the contentious past betwixt the 2 countries, bigger and richer Vietnam is taking attraction not to look to beryllium impinging connected Cambodian sovereignty, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an expert astatine Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

"Although successful Vietnam, determination are large concerns," helium said.

Lost successful Cambodia's nationalistic rhetoric are the concerns of radical similar Sok Koeun, 57, who whitethorn suffer her home.

The tin-roofed cottage wherever she has lived with her household since 1980 is close wherever the canal is owed to beryllium built. The stream provides her with food to provender her household erstwhile she struggles to get by selling sugarcane foodstuff and recycling integrative cans.

No 1 has been successful touch, she says, to reply her mounting questions: Will she get compensated? Will she get land? Or cash? Where volition they go?

"I lone learned astir it (the canal) conscionable now," she said.