Living over Water - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 214

of environmental protection has not been established. The present chapter thus
serves to briefly introduce these two case studies in a hope of encouraging future,
detailed research on the interesting parallels between them and what could evolve
in southern Iraq.
TONLE SAP GREAT LAKE
Due to its unique hydrological phenomena, the Tonle Sap Great Lake in Cambodia
is “a real natural wonder of the world” (Anonymous 2004). During the dry season it
is 150 km in length and on average 20 km wide, occupying a surface area of 2,500
km 2 . In May, the “wonder of nature” begins when meltwater from the Himalayas
flows down the Mekong River coincident with the spring monsoons. So great is this
volume of water that the 120 km Tonle Sap River, which normally drains the lake
into the Mekong at Phnom Penh, begins to back up and reverse its flow. The result-
ing inundation of the Great Lake causes it to swell to 250 km in length and 100 km
wide, with an area of over 13,000 km 2 , a change in volume from 5 to 80 billion m 3
and representing a fourfold increase in area, making it the largest lake in Southeast
Asia (Figure 14.1). Twenty percent of the Mekong River's floodwaters are absorbed
by the Tonle Sap (Asian Development Bank [ADB] 2005b, 2005c). In this regard,
as well as in providing an extremely important fish-breeding ground, the lake's
importance transcends Cambodia (Anonymous 2004). Dry-season water depths
between 1 and 2 m become 10 m at this time, causing major flooding of the forests,
sometimes to distances of over 50 km from their dry-season shorelines. Trees begin
to drop their leaves, and the submerged forest becomes prime habitat for fish and
birds (Figure 14.2). In November, the flow reverts back to normal, leaving behind
thousands of square kilometers of fertile sediment which become important for rice
planting (Figure 14.3). These floodplains supply 12 percent of the total rice produc-
tion in Cambodia (ADB 2005b).
This environment supports one of the largest freshwater fisheries in the
world. In fact, the fishery ranks first in the world for productivity and fourth for
total catch (ADB 2005c). Indeed, at the peak of the fish migration, an unbelievable
34 tons, or about 3 million individual fish, are caught each hour in bag nets (ADB
2006). Cambodia has one of the world's highest per capita consumption rates of fish,
about half of which comes from the Tonle Sap. Over 15 percent of the country's pop-
ulation depends on the lake for their livelihood. During the wet season, large regions
(some up to 300 km in size) of the inundated forests are cordoned off with bamboo
and netting fences to entrap and contain fishes (Figure 14.4). Over two hundred spe-
cies of fish inhabit the lake, including the rare Mekong River Catfish, which, at 3 m
in length and 300 kg, is the world's largest freshwater fish (Poole 2005).
The Tonle Sap Lake was, like the Mesopotamian marshes, situated at the
heart of one of history's greatest civilizations. The Khmer Empire and its predeces-
sors settled around the lake, most particularly in the area to the northwest near the
modern-day city of Siem Reap, and from 100 bce to 1450 ce built some of history's
most spectacular structures (Figure 14.5). Angkor Wat is one example, which though
the most famous, is really only one of a vast complex of temples in what is the world's