Asia-Pacific

Climate Change Threatens Cambodia’s Floating Villages

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By Kris Ma/Billie Sweetman/Irene Lin

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Residents of Tonle Sap in Cambodia are seeing dramatic changes to the waters they depend on. Around 80,000 people live in floating villages across Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, where fishing and farming have long relied on the lake’s natural flood pulse. But climate change, changing weather patterns and upstream hydropower dams are disrupting ecosystems and livelihoods. Fishers and sellers say incomes have fallen as fish populations decline. NGOs and local officials are working to improve water access and support fish habitats, but residents remain uncertain about the future.