The Cambodian Mekong floodplain under future development plans and climate change

This research attempts to conduct a cumulative assessment of basin-wide hydropower dam construction and irrigation expansion, as well as climate change, implications on discharge, and flood changes in the Cambodian Mekong floodplain. These floodplains offer important livelihoods for a considerable part of the 6.4 million people living on them, as they are among the most productive ecosystems in the world – driven by the annual flood pulse. To assess the potential future impacts, the authors used an innovative combination of three models: Mekong basin-wide distributed hydrological model IWRM-VMod, with the Mekong delta 1D flood propagation model MIKE-11 and 2D flood duration and extent model IWRM-Sub enabling detail floodplain modelling.

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Authors

Horton, A.J., N.V.K. Triet, L.P. Hoang, S. Heng, P. Hok, S. Chung, J. Koponen, and M. Kummu

Publication Date

22 March 2022

Publication Name

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences

Topics

Mekong, floodplain, models, climate change, dam construction, irrigation