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Kampong Bay river basin: Kampot Province’s vital lifeline

By IW:LEARN

December 18^th, 2023

Wading through the communes of Kampot Province, the glossy waters of Kampong Bay River Basin strides on to riverbanks and riprap walls, providing a steady source of food and livelihood, as well as means of transport to over 184,000 people in the southern region of Cambodia.

Kampot Province’s coastal area is approximately 66.50 kilometers and covers four districts including Kampot City, Bokor district, Teuk Chhou District, and Kampong Trach District. The Kampong Bay River Basin is one of the main coastal river systems in Cambodia with 12-kilometer long or 3,018 km2 total area. From Kamchay Mountain, it flows through the Teuk Chhou district and Kampot City toward the Gulf of Thailand, a large marine ecosystem shared with Thailand and Viet Nam.

Although Cambodia has a relatively shorter coastline compared to its neighboring Asian countries, the 443-kilometer coastal area is host to 1,960 hectares of mangrove forests, 25,250 hectares of seagrass beds, and 953 hectares of coral reefs. It is also home to endangered species including Dugong, marine dolphin, and marine turtles. These marine ecosystems are critical to sustain the biodiversity and fisheries resources in the surrounding areas.

Kampong Bay river basin: Kampot Province’s vital lifeline

In 2007, the United Nations Environment Programme estimated that the annual net economic value of Cambodia’s seagrass beds and mangrove forests were USD 1,186 per hectare per year and USD 882.35 per hectare per year, respectively.

Mangrove forest cover along the estuarine adjoining the Kampong Bay River Basin to the Gulf of Thailand. There are at least 35 mangrove species identified and recorded in the country.

The continuous decline of water quality from the upstream sources and the degradation of freshwater habitats of the river basin could adversely impact the biodiversity and marine resources of Cambodia.

The Kampong Bay River Basin is the largest river draining from Kamchay Mountain into the sea. This river system plays an important role in ensuring the water supply of Kampot communities and the local tourism economy in the province.

From marine life to human lives

With a total area of 3,018 square kilometers, Kampong Bay River Basin is not only ecologically important to maintain a diverse and healthy freshwater and marine ecosystems in Cambodia. More importantly, it is the life support of the entire Kampot Province and its neighboring districts.

The upstream area of the Kampong Bay River Basin is lined with a narrow stretch of white sand beach, paved baywalks, and greenery leading upright to the more rural districts of Kampot Province.

From Phnom Penh, Kampot Province is 148 kilometers away and a three-hour land travel from the nation’s capital. It has witnessed a lot of historical transformation that brought together its rich and diverse culture of communes living along the river basin. It is famous for its durian and gourmet pepper that is known as one of the best in the world.

The Kampong Bay River Basin passes through the seven coastline communes and 17 non-coastline communes from the districts of Tuek Chhou and Chhuk, and Kampot City, the capital of Kampot Province. Communes are groups of villages within a district or a municipality. This region of Cambodia is considered as one of the fast-developing coastal areas in the country.

The riverbanks of Kampot City provides a picturesque view of a growing river city with mixed residential, commercial buildings, and public infrastructure in the background. There are commercial establishments such as food stalls, retail shops, resorts, and docking areas to cater the locals and tourists who come for the river cruise, one of the main attractions in Kampot.

Aside from tourism, agriculture is the most predominant sector that employs over 70% of the province’s population. This includes rice farming, sugarcane and other crop plantations, salt farming, aquaculture and small-scale fisheries. Fishing communities thrive in the downstream area of the river.

The thriving fishing community in Kampot City is found in the downstream area of the river basin, near the opening of the gulf.

The industrial developments in Kampot also bring in other economic opportunities such as construction services, local handicrafts, and manufacturing industries including ice production, garments and footwear, cement factories, and even sand dredging.

Unfortunately, these developments hardly come with sufficient measures to mitigate potential environmental impacts.

The river basin in peril

The coastal and riverbank developments, alongside the increase of pressure of utilization of water resources in Kampot, has contributed to the continuous decline of water quality in Kampong Bay River Basin. It endangers the critical water source of the Province as it provides essential water services to different sectors including agriculture, transportation, and tourism. It produces hydropower up to 194 megawatts that generates electricity not only for Kampot Province but also for other cities including Phnom Penh and Sihanouk. It is also considered as the only source to extract clean water for people living in Kampot City.

However, the level of pollution has continuously increased over time, in part due to the growing population in the province as well as the lack of proper management of wastes.

In the 2013 data of the Kampot Provincial Administration, only 7.31% of the province’s population have access to solid waste collection services. The solid wastes are commonly burned, buried, or dumped into the waterways. Moreso, the wastewater is highly problematic as only 3.06% have been connected to the sewage system as of 2014.

The improper waste management has put the river basin and the communities living alongside the river at a high risk of pollution and degradation despite its socio-economic importance in the region.

Today, the Kampong Bay River Basin is one of the national priority rivers in Cambodia. It is also included as one of the priority river basins of the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project being implemented on the ground by Partnerships in Environment Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

“Kampot Province faces challenges related to climate change, natural disasters, and environmental pollution. We appreciate the selection of Kampot Province as a priority site for the project and the facilitation of the inception workshop. It will provide an opportunity for national and sub-national stakeholders to provide inputs to achieve the expected results of the project for the sustainable development of Kampot Province,” said Kampot Province Deputy Governor Siv Peng during the national inception workshop of the Project in Cambodia.

National and local partners of the IRBM Project participated in a two-day national inception workshop in Kampot City last July 2023 to discuss the action plans of the Project in the next five years.

In the Southeast Asian region, the IRBM Project covers priority river basins in six countries including Cambodia to set-up a functional mechanism to reduce pollution, sustain freshwater water quality, and adapt to impacts of climate change. It is designed to improve governance and management arrangements through the source-to-sea approach within a five-year period.

In Cambodia, the State of the River Basin (SORB) in Kampong Bay will be developed to provide evidence-based data and information to better understand the current challenges being faced by the river basin and the communities surrounding the areas. In the five-year implementation of the Project, it will also strengthen the governance and management strategies of the Kampong Bay through investments in pilot initiatives to improve infrastructure in the area, strengthening public-private partnership, building the capacity of local and provincial leaders, and increasing awareness among communities.

A clean and healthy river basin can help Khmer communities reach their social, economic and environmental goals. This can be achieved by establishing stronger policies, a well-defined management regime and robust infrastructures, all supported by an up-to-date and reliable data on the state of the river basin.

About the IRBM Project

The Reducing Pollution and Preserving Environmental Flows in the East Asian Seas through the Implementation of Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) in the ASEAN Countries project aims to set-up functional management mechanisms in priority river basins of six ASEAN countries to reduce pollution and sustain freshwater environmental flows as well as adapt to climate change vulnerabilities. IRBM Project is supported by the GEF, implemented by UNDP in Asia and the Pacific and executed by PEMSEA, in collaboration with ASEAN.