Mekong River

The mekong river is a major transboundary river with origins 5,000 meters above sea level in the Tibetan Plateau. The river's course runs through Yunnan Province, China (where it is known as the Lancang Jiang) and five Southeast Asian nations—Myanmar, the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos), Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The Mekong forms part of the borders of Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. It drains an area of 795,000 square kilometers. Its annual discharge of 475 square kilometers and length of 4,180 kilometers makes the Mekong the longest and largest (by volume) river in mainland Southeast Asia, and the 12th longest and 10th largest in the world.

The population of the Mekong basin is estimated at 60 million, 50 million of whom reside in the Lower Mekong, ...