Chhnok Trou is to fishing what Bangkok is to traffic. Ninety percent of the village people are fishermen, and every day they rise by 5 a.m., as their great grandfathers did, untie their motorized skiffs, and head 5 kilometers up stream to reach the Great Lake by dawn. On a lucky day in the dry season a family can catch as much as 100-200 kilos of fish, a haul that makes up for the slow days during the long monsoon. For travelers who take the boat up the Tonle Sap River to the Great Lake and then to Angkor Wat, the fishing skiffs scattered in numbers too big to count provide a glimpse of the river life: men slinging their nets in the sun-dappled river; women in straw hats or checked kramas preparing a meal under the small thatched hut on board, children playing on deck. But the Tonle Sap River and Lake are much more than good fishing grounds. The river forms the heartland of Cambodia; it feeds and irrigates half the country and the river itself is an ecological wonder of the world for its biodiversity and its links to history. With out the Tonle Sap and the Great Lake, there would have been no Angkor Wat. The way of life of the river people is very different from the life of the people who live in the fruit groves or in the paddies or in the forests or in Phnom Penh. Their village is inextricably linked with the river, and dramatic seasonal changes in its water level affect all aspects of their lives. The river people are constantly on the move, and as the water level rises and recedes they move as often as five or six times a year. One thatched-roof hut floating on hollow bamboo poles with a small boy shooting on the roof floats by tugged along by a small motor skiff. All this moving of houses would drive a postman nut, but the residents say it’s no trouble to find their friends- “We just ask the neighbors where they move,” explained one man. And it’s not just houses. Everything is floating. A market with garden hoses, plants and fabrics is on floats; as are the beauty parlor, the midwife’s office, the village headquarters, the engine me chanic, the jewelry store and the school. There is a steady stream of commerce in the village. Women selling cabbages, tomatoes, watermelons, coconuts and other fruit paddle by in small sampans. A couple of girls float past selling fresh sweet rolls. In another skiff the paddler is almost 

obscured by the stacks of firewood. Another sampan belongs to the ice man, whose blocks  of ice are covered by blue plastic. On his boat is an ice grinder spewing out finely chopped ice like snow. Except for a few TV antennas sticking up from the roofs of some of the floating houses, and motors on the skiffs, life hasn’t change much in a century.   To understand the importance of the Great Lake to the river people, we asked Chan Hoeun , the commune chief. “The fishermen have to work very hard, but they always have food. There is always enough to eat everyday,” he said. “But we have to buy everything, bamboo, firewood, rice. We only have fish.” It is the extraordinary biodiversity and hydrology of the Tonle Sap River and the Great Lake that not only make the fishing good, but also make the river an ecological marvel. The Great Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and today it remains the hub of Cambodia’s economy, supporting fisheries and agricultural irrigation for some 4.5 million Cambodians- practically half the country.

ecological sensitivity, the Tonle Sap ecosystem faces many environmental threats, and the Ministry of Environment is working with Unesco to help preserve the river  people’s lifestyle, traditions and environment. Sometimes the water level is erratic, and the lake has become lower in the dry Season than it used to be. A management plan is needed for the whole lake and river system. Unesco plans to add the Tonle Sap to the World Heritage List of natural sites, just as Angkor Wat has been added to the World Heritage List of cultural sites. Christine Alfsen Norodom, head of environmental affairs for Unesco in Cambodia, says the likelihood is very good that the Tonle Sap will be included because it’s unique and: “It has great symbolic value. Angkor is there because of the Tonle Sap. The lake is the heart of the country. It irrigates half of Cambodia. “The important thing for the Ministry of Environment is to avoid soil erosion and biodiversity loss and to conserve the lake,” says Sabu Bacha, Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Environment. After we create the agency to manage the Tonle Sap, we will create a master plan for the lake.”