Tonle Sap Landscape

By WCS Cambodia

November 25^th, 2024

The Tonle Sap Great Lake is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It has a unique hydrology: in June, the water stops flowing from the lake into the Mekong River, and the flow reverses into the lake, expanding it to five times its dry-season size and depth and flooding a vast area of flooded forest, scrub, and grassland, before beginning to drain again in October before the cycle starts again.

The Tonle Sap is of enormous social, cultural, and environmental value because it is one of the world's most productive and diverse fisheries systems, providing Cambodia with 60 percent of its protein intake. It is vital for globally threatened waterbirds, Bengal bustards, snakes, and turtles. WCS Cambodia works in five main areas in the landscape.

Prek Toal Ramsar Site (PTRS)

PTRS covers 21,342 hectares and is the richest flooded forest in the Tonle Sap Lake and one of Asia’s greatest conservation success stories. It is now home to Southeast Asia's largest breeding colony of waterbirds, supporting thousands of storks, ibises, pelicans, herons, egrets, darters, and cormorants.

These include the world’s second-largest Greater Adjutant colony and Southeast Asia’s only breeding Spot-Billed Pelicans. This incredible waterbird colony only exists because it is protected by a network of former poachers and community members situated on tree-top platforms throughout the flooded forest.

It was established by WCS 25 Cambodia years ago when the colony was almost destroyed. In October 2015, Prek Toal was designated a Ramsar Site due to its global significance for conservation and the value of its fish to local people in the surrounding Community Fisheries. The site is being designated as the Asian Heritage Park by the Ministry of Environment.

Ang Trapeang Thmor Protected Landscape (ATTPL)

ATTPL is situated on the outer edge of the Tonle Sap Floodplain. The site was expanded from 12,650 hectares to 24,212 hectares by the government sub-decree No. 160 issued on 17th July 2023. This reserve encompasses various habitats, including diverse wetlands, rice fields, and open deciduous forests.

In the non-breeding season, it supports half of Cambodia’s Sarus Cranes, a large congregation of Garganey, Knob-billed duck, Spot-billed Pelican, Greater Adjutant, Lesser Adjutant, Milky Stork, and thousands of other waterbirds, including storks, egrets, and ducks.

Within the last few years, many waterbird species have started to breed at this important wetland habitat. Ang Trapeang Thmor Protected Landscape also supports a population of Endangered Eld's Deer. These species and the beautiful wetlands attract thousands of tourists each year.

Northern Tonle Sap Lowland Protected Landscape (NTSLPL)

NTSLPL covers 31,787 hectares and was established to conserve the Bengal Florican, a critically endangered grassland bird for which the Tonle Sap Floodplain serves as a global stronghold. This protected landscape comprises a network of six smaller protected areas, each designated as a Bengal Florican Conservation Area, named after their specific geographic locations (for example, the Stoung Bengal Florican Conservation Area).

Management of the protected area is conducted by the Provincial Department of Environment in collaboration with community committees, which allow agricultural activities within the area when these practices are beneficial to the Bengal Florican. WCS Cambodia partners with the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) to assist farmers in accessing markets for rice cultivated in ways that enhance biodiversity, promote community-based ecotourism, and encourage participatory natural resource management. This collaboration leverages local knowledge to support the Sustainable Rice Platform in developing improved biodiversity standards for rice cultivation on a global scale.

Bakan Protected Landscape (BPL)

BPL covers 38,430 hectares and is a critical component of the Tonle Sap ecosystem. It is a naturally flooded grassland that becomes a dynamic aquatic habitat in the wet season. This unique environment is home to critically endangered species like the Bengal Florican, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Manchurian Reed-warbler, and Cambodia’s only known population of the elusive Chinese Grassbird.

Recognizing the ecological importance of this landscape since the early 2000s, WCS Cambodia and its partners have dedicated the past five years to advocating for its official protection. This marks Cambodia’s first new protected area in the Tonle Sap Floodplain since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrating a continued focus on preserving this ecologically significant region.

The official protection of the Bakan Landscape is not just a national achievement but a concrete step towards the global 30×30 initiative. Supported by Cambodia and over 100 other nations, this initiative is critical to bending the curve on biodiversity loss, responding to climate change, and ensuring a sustainable future for our planet.

Prek Toal Fisheries Conservation Area (PTFCA)

A former fishing Lot No.2 covering 50,134h, is well-known as one of the most productive areas for fisheries on the Tonle Sap due to the uniqueness of the flooded forest, river system and dry season ponds. Therefore, during the deep reforms of the fisheries sector in 2012, the Government of Cambodia decided to reserve the whole area of fishing lot No. 2 as a Fisheries Conservation Area. The proper management of PTFCA is vital for the sustainable management of fisheries resources in the Tonle Sap Great Lake, and to ensure Cambodia's people continue to gain economic, cultural and nutritional benefits from these resources.

Destruction of flooded forests results in a loss of breeding, spawning, nursery and feeding grounds for many fish species, leading to a reduction in fish stocks. In this context, it is timely that the Lower Mekong Basin Wetland Management and Conservation Project (LMWMCP), funded by KfW and the EU “Our Tonle Sap” Project, provide financial support to strengthen patrolling in this critical area to conserve fisheries resources and maintain fish productivity in the Great Lake, local livelihoods and feeding grounds for some of the world’s most threatened waterbird species.

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