Utilization, Impacts, and Community’s Food Sources Restoration: Cases Studies of Sri Sombun Community, Chanuman District, Amnat Charoen Province

Abstract

This research paper reflects and stresses the importance of Mekong resources on the ways of living of the communities located along the Mekong River. Hence, it explains impacts of changes in various forms in the Mekong River on the communities’ food security and capability of local people in adapting themselves to the changes through rehabilitating the Mekong’s ecology for securing food sources. Participatory Action Research (PAR) techniques were utilized to gather and summarize field data. Livelihoods and food security are concepts applied to the data analysis.

             The research revealed that villagers have predominantly relied on Mekong resources and regarded them as food and income sources. The Mekong River is a cultural space as can be seen from boat racing and the Yakhu festival, the Legendary of Giants related to the originality of the Mekong, to name a few. However, the construction of hydropower dams on the Mekong has led to the loss of food and incomes generated from the Mekong resources, for example, the loss and lack of certain fishes and riverbank due to unnatural erosion. PAR was employed as a research tool to resolve such negative impacts from the loss of fish resources.  Villagers have collectively initiated the “Mekong Fish Conservation Zone” as a key collective activity to achieve better food security and to restore the ecology.