Posted on 30 October 2013

The Greater Mekong is blessed with natural riches – from forests full of life to fertile floodplains and the world’s most valuable freshwater fishery. Around 80 per cent of the Greater Mekong’s 300 million people depend directly on the goods and services its ecosystems provide, like food, fibre and clean water.

But rapid development is depleting the region’s natural resources and degrading its landscapes, waters and biodiversity, leading to a loss of natural capital. As a result, the people of the Greater Mekong risk losing the many benefits that healthy ecosystems bring.

Shifting to a green economy that recognizes the value of nature is crucial for millions of people in the Greater Mekong, now and in the future. The region urgently needs to move away from an economic model that squanders natural capital for short-term financial gain to one that uses it as the foundation for inclusive, sustainable development.

All six countries of the Greater Mekong (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern province of Yunnan in China) have pledged their support to “the development of a green, inclusive, and balanced economy” to reduce poverty, biodiversity loss and greenhouse-gas emissions. And each government’s national development plan talks about green growth.

But how do we put these ideas into practice and build a truly green economy in the Greater Mekong? That’s the challenge WWF is now addressing.

Download our factsheet with examples of our green economy work in the Greater Mekong, our leaflet and summary paper and full report on The Economic Value of Ecosystem Services in the Lower Mekong.