The Mekong River remained hydrologically unregulated until recent decades and still harbors immense natural resources that are the basis of rural livelihoods. Research on how dams and climate change could alter the river has heightened in recent years, and while this research has led to important scientific concepts and increased discussion of sustainable development, it has done little to prevent the rapid environmental change in the Mekong floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam. Meanwhile, localized drivers of floodplain change (including overfishing, deforestation, and water infrastructure development) are impacting the environment in faster and more direct ways, potentially exacerbating the negative effects of regional factors such as hydropower and climate change. Sustainable development of the basin must include comprehensive science and implementable policy programs that integrate across regional and local scales and focus on clearly defined societal and policy goals, collection of critical data, capacity building of in-region scientific and policy institutions, effective law enforcement, and adaptable implementation strategies.

直到最近几十年，湄公河在水文方面一直不受管制，但仍然蕴藏着巨大的自然资源，这些自然资源是农村生计的基础。近年来，关于水坝和气候变化如何改变河流的研究已经加强，尽管这项研究导致了重要的科学概念和对可持续发展的更多讨论，但它并不能阻止柬埔寨湄公河漫滩的快速环境变化。和越南。同时，洪泛平原变化的局部驱动因素（包括过度捕鱼，森林砍伐和水利基础设施建设）以更快，更直接的方式影响环境，从而可能加剧水力发电和气候变化等区域性因素的负面影响。