Wednesday January 15, 2025
The Times —
Cambodia was once one of the Mekong River’s greatest guardians.
The Cambodian people long understood and depended on the rhythms and bounty of the river system and lived in relative harmony with it. When the Khmer Rouge reset history to Year Zero and expelled all Cambodians into the countryside, the old ways swiftly broke down.
Pol Pot and his henchmen summarily destroyed all land records and began the rape of the country’s wetlands on an industrial scale.
They scythed through the forests surrounding the Tonlé Sap, the lake fed by the Mekong, which would spend almost half the year submerged, creating dark, quiet spawning grounds for fish. Irrawaddy dolphins that swam freely from the Mekong mainstream to the lake were hunted and killed, their fat to be used for oil.