In Lao, children, already from a young age, play in the riverbanks until they hone their skills in spearfishing and trapping crabs and shrimps. They grow and learn their ways of life through the rivers and mountains.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. However, it occupies a central position in Southeast Asia mainland and lies at the heart of the Mekong River. The Mekong River is a transboundary river, the largest in Southeast Asia, traversing six countries in East and Southeast Asia, connects major waterways in the region, and drains to southern Viet Nam towards the South China Sea, an important large marine ecosystem. Like in any other country, water is essential to the life and culture of every Laotian. It drives the economy – from household and grassroots communities to national development. Water resources are the foundation of key sectors in Lao PDR including agriculture, forestry, tourism, energy, and mining.
The river nourishes the land and its people. Even the mountains and farmlands rely on its nutrients and water supply. It gives communities a bounty harvest and helps people earn a living. Undeniably, the river is every Laotian’s way of life.
Lao PDR has 62 river basins, 14 of which were identified as priority river basins in the natural resources and environment sectors for 2021-2025, including the Nam Tha River Basin. With a total length of 325 kilometers and a catchment area of 8,918 square kilometers, the Nam Tha River Basin flows from the mountainous area of northern Lao PDR and ends in the Mekong River. It passes through the provinces of Luang Nam Tha, Oudomxay, and Bokeo, supporting over 212,990 Laotians as of 2021.
Three major ethnic groups can be considered as stewards of the Nam Tha River Basin. These are the Khmou, Hmong, and Lao, who live along the riverbanks. The river is their source of food and livelihood, ranging from agriculture, tourism, water supply, and means of navigation. These water services are also shared with other sectors, including mining, energy through hydropower, and irrigation. In fact, the source of water supply for more than 4,000 hectares of rice farms in this part of the country comes from the Nam Tha river.
Not only the people living along the Nam Tha river are reliant on its water resources. The river itself and the adjacent forests are teeming with life: over 125 species of freshwater fish, 297 species of birds, and 37 large mammals have been recorded. It is considered ecologically important as it hosts two protected areas – the Nam Ha and Nam Khan National Biodiversity Conservation Area and the Phu Sam Yord National Protection Forest Area. The biodiversity of these two protected areas is also crucial to providing a safe and livable environment for the 22 villages in this part of Nam Tha river.
However, climate-related and other anthropogenic threats continue to threaten the river and the lives of those who depend on it.
While the gross domestic product (GDP) of the three provinces in the Nam Tha River basin rose, reaching a GDP of 1,800 USD per capita in 2019, the increasing population and unsustainable practices related to water resource utilization continue to contribute to the decline of water quality and, potentially, scarcity of water supply in the communities surrounding the river.
From 2005 to 2015, the population growth was 1.9%, with a total of 33,242 households, as of 2015. In Oudomxay, Bokeo, and Luang Nam Tha provinces, approximately 91% of the total number of households have access to safe water supply. However, on sanitation and hygiene, only 10% of the households are connected to the centralized sewerage system while 40% have septic tanks or other on-site sanitation facilities. Moreover, only 40% of the households have domestic garbage collection services. The inadequate dumping sites eventually lead to improper disposal of domestic waste that pollutes the river.
In 2017, the government of Lao PDR assessed the river basin status, paving the way for evidence-based action planning and programming to address the key issues threatening the water resource supply in northern Lao PDR. Among the key issues identified were unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation, overfishing, and mining.
Water resources are used in different sectors. In agriculture, they are mainly used for irrigation of approximately 24,001 hectares of farms. In tourism, the river provides recreational services such as kayaking, tours, and other eco-tourism activities. In the energy sector, the Nam Tha River basin is a source of hydropower. The power plant in Bokeo Province generates a total of 290.7 megawatts.
Over time, the continuous increase in the demand of water supply and the unsustainable practices adversely impacted the water quality and quantity of Nam Tha river. The runoffs from slash and burning, in-stream habitat degradation, pesticides from plantations, sand and gravel mining effluents, and wastewater from factories are among the main factors that pollute the river.
The deforestation in the area has accelerated soil erosion. The sedimentation in the river is aggravated during the rainy season when the riverbanks are heavily flooded and eroded. Every year, the sediment accumulates downstream towards the Mekong Delta. And with erosion continuously happening, the communities in the riverbanks are more vulnerable to other geohazards.
These threats, compounded with the lack of coordination and effective governance mechanisms in place to manage the Nam The River basin, can lead to water use conflict among and between various stakeholders in the river basin.
The government of Lao PDR has an existing national water resources strategy and action plan that includes the river basins. However, national and local partners acknowledge the need for a more coordinated approach to rehabilitate and restore the degraded areas of the Nam Tha River.
"The IRBM project is essential for ensuring the sustainable and equitable use of water resources, protecting the environment, and promoting the well-being of communities that depend on rivers and water bodies for their livelihoods. It is beneficial not only for Lao PDR but in improving actions for water resources management in our region,”
said Dr. Inthavy Akkharath, Director General of the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
The Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Project includes Nam Tha River basin as one of the priority sites in the Southeast Asian region. Together with the United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) is working with the national government of Lao PDR and the local governments of Bokeo, Luang Nam Tha, and Oudomxay to strengthen the governance mechanisms and improve management responsiveness and capacities in IRBM and IWRM.
The IRBM Project will contribute to the implementation of the Nam Tha River Basin Action Plan 2021-2025, which translates the provisions of the 2017 National Law on Water and Water Resources and priorities of the 5-year Action Plan on Natural Resources and Environment into actions at the river basin level. It will also contribute to the larger policy agenda at the regional level (i.e., Mekong River Strategic Action Plan) and at the global level, particularly Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
The IRBM Project intends to address the sustainable management of forests and the reduction of pollution in the river through an integrated approach in the planning, design, and implementation of water resource management. This includes the conduct of a baseline study through the State of River Basin, capacity building of national and local leaders and practitioners, and establishing pilot projects to demonstrate approaches in addressing the key challenges in the Nam Tha River Basin.
With a more effective governance mechanism forming in the horizon, the culture and tradition shaped by the Nam Tha River will continue to live on, with its communities living in harmony with nature.
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.
For more information on the IRBM Project, visit the project page on iwlearn.net.
© 2026 IW:LEARN
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