Background
- Introduction
- The Mekong under Threat
- Oxfam in East Asia
INTRODUCTION
The Mekong is the world's 10th largest river. Rising on the Tibetan plateau and passing through six countries, the Mekong defines Oxfam's work in East Asia. Today, the river's life-sustaining resources are being stretched beyond their limits.
Since 1975, the number of absolutely poor people in East Asia fell by more than two-thirds—a rate faster than any other developing region in the world. Still, a huge number of people—more than 450 million—live in poverty. While larger countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma have the highest numbers of poor people, smaller countries like Cambodia, Lao PDR, and East Timor remain the least developed in Asia.
Oxfam America's East Asia Program focuses on the Mekong River Basin, home to some of the poorest people in the world. Today, the river that is central to 65 million lives is also the center of rapid development. The people who depend on the Mekong stand to lose a great deal.
Consider that, of the millions who live in the Mekong basin, the great majority—more than 75 percent—earn a living from agriculture and fisheries and rely directly on the river’s natural resources to survive. It follows that, when those resources are jeopardized, so are the lives that depend on them.
In our efforts to assist farmers and fishers throughout the region, Oxfam maintains a special focus on women and ethnic minorities, who suffer the greatest poverty in the region.