The Tonle Sap Lake is threatened by more frequent wet season droughts and upstream water retention that have greatly weakened the flood pulse that forms the basis of its natural productivity.  The possibility of dams on the Mekong mainstream in Cambodia represents an existential threat to the lake by blocking the movement of migratory fish that represent half of the region’s fish catch.

The government is reacting, in 2020, Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a moratorium on all mainstream dams and at the UNFCCC COP26 in 2021, Cambodia committed itself to not building any Mekong mainstream dams.

At 40%, Cambodia has one of the world’s highest percentage of land under legal protection.  But most of these suffer from weak management.  How the country’s pays for effective protected area management, the statuary role of local communities in protected area management, and the role of the private sector in financing conservation and major policy questions.

In 2017, IUCN signed a Host Country Agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and 2019 Cambodia became an IUCN State member. IUCN works closely with Ministry of Environment and the Fisheries Administration.