The Mekong is the most controversial river in Southeast Asia, and increasingly the focus of international attention. It flows through 6 countries, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and VietNam, has the largest freshwater fishery in the world and supports an enormous rice-growing industry. Yet it is a river system under threat from development, hydropower dams and irrigation schemes. This book will provide a broad overview of all the environmental aspects of the Mekong River. It discusses the possible impacts--biological, physical, economic and social--of some possible development scenarios and provides a technical basis which can inform the growing political and conservation debate about the future of the Mekong River and those who depend on it. It is aimed at river ecologists, geographers, environmentalists and development specialists both in the basin and elsewhere.