Some nations, including Canada and New Zealand, recognise specific rivers as living entities with legal rights — a movement closely associated with indigenous people and their reverence for rivers as vital life forces. Rivers should have the right to flow freely, the right to be pollution-free, the right to sue those who damage the river. But who is going to prosecute the dam-builders and other perpetrators that are killing rivers?
Mekong Apocalypse sets out to portray the river as a living entity—at times thunderous and angry, other times calm and placid. The Mekong is the lifeline of multiple unique ecosystems along its course, and the building of megadams has severely impacted those delicate ecosystems. Mekong Apocalypse shines the spotlight on some special facets of the Mekong such as:
- thundering through the world's deepest gorges
- blasting over rocks at majestic falls in Laos at 4000 islands
- Mekong flood-pulse (Cambodia), where the connecting Tonle Sap River reverses current twice during the annual monsoon
- the delicate ecosystem of Lake Tonle Sap, now under great threat of collapse (Cambodia)
- Hungry Water (Vietnam) & saltwater intrusion
- the Mekong plume (Vietnam)
However, many details are glossed over because of time constraints. Mekong Apocalypse does not explore the mangrove and nipa-palm ecosystem of coastal Vietnam. Nor does it explore the unique ecosystem of Flooded Forest in northeast Cambodia.
In this part of Cambodia, the forest is submerged for part of the year and yet it survives—and acts as an important nursery for fish species. However, the trees cannot survive flooding year-round—that will kill them. The trees need a dry season. For centuries, there has been a regular dry season on the Mekong here. But now, Chinese megadams in Yunnan are releasing water in the dry season to keep their turbines running. Bad news for the trees in the flooded forest downstream.
