Population pressures in the Asia-Pacific are experiencing an increasing demand for food and hence irrigation expansion is happening or being planned to produce staple food such as rice. An important aspect of food security in the Asia-Pacific is nutritional balance to prevent developmental deficiencies in children growing up and, throughout life, maintaining good health.

In many countries of the Mekong, fish complements rice and provides far greater nutritional value; it provides the main source of protein for millions of people. The freshwater fish catch in the Lower Mekong Basin is important for nutrition and livelihoods. Approximately 2% of the global fisheries catch comes from the Lower Mekong Basin, which contains 1200 known species. In Lao PDR alone, freshwater fish and other aquatic animals provide approximately 50% of the animal protein, with 170,000 tons of fish consumed per year (25kg person-1year-1) . The majority of fish (86% in Lao PDR) are migratory and rely on swimming long distances upstream and downstream to complete their reproductive life cycle. The expansion of irrigation schemes relies on weirs and infrastructure that disrupt the fishways upon which many fish species depend. This threatens both aquatic biodiversity and the productivity of this provisioning ecosystem service.

The Australian Water Partnership (AWP) is supporting its partners – the  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) and  Charles Sturt University (CSU) – to implement a project seeking to enhance biodiversity services in irrigation systems of Southeast Asia. This project will develop the tools, country-specific guidelines, regional lessons, and in-country capacities required to more systematically include biodiversity and ecosystem service considerations into irrigation rehabilitation, extension and modernization programs.  For more information click here.