IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v210y2025ics1364032124008840.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human barriers fragment three-quarters of all rivers in the Mekong basin

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Mingbo
  • Sun, Jingrui
  • Baldan, Damiano
  • Olden, Julian D.
  • Liu, Qi
  • Ding, Chengzhi
  • Tao, Juan

Abstract

Rapid expansion of human barriers threatens many of the remaining free-flowing rivers of the world. The Mekong Basin is an exemplar in this regard with previous studies indicating high levels of river fragmentation caused by barriers, despite such estimates being limited dues to incomplete data. The present study offers the first comprehensive evaluation of river fragmentation in the Mekong Basin by leveraging a comprehensive basin-scale barrier database containing 13,054 unique barriers, and by employing five dendritic connectivity index-derived indices, one barrier density-derived index, and two newly-developed basin-scale connectivity assessment methods. The results revealed striking fragmentation across the Mekong Basin, with the Thailand and Vietnam regions exhibited the most pronounced levels, characterized by lowest dendritic connectivity values, due to high numbers of irrigation facilities. Only a limited number of sub-basins in the Upper Mekong (3.4 % of all sub-basins) and Lower Mekong (10.7 %) regions remain free-flowing. Environmental correlation analysis of river barrier construction suggested densely populated low-elevation rural areas that are more likely to suffer from diminished river connectivity. This assessment enhances our current understanding of river fragmentation in the Mekong Basin and help in the formulation of strategies for future connectivity restoration efforts across the entire basin.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Mingbo & Sun, Jingrui & Baldan, Damiano & Olden, Julian D. & Liu, Qi & Ding, Chengzhi & Tao, Juan, 2025. "Human barriers fragment three-quarters of all rivers in the Mekong basin," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124008840
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.115158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124008840
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2024.115158?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geleta, Y. & Simane, B. & Assefa, E. & Haileslassie, Amare, 2023. "Impacts of small-scale irrigation water use on environmental flow of ungauged rivers in Africa," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-12:3..
    2. Hennig, Thomas & Wang, Wenling & Feng, Yan & Ou, Xiaokun & He, Daming, 2013. "Review of Yunnan's hydropower development. Comparing small and large hydropower projects regarding their environmental implications and socio-economic consequences," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 585-595.
    3. Chen, Ji & Shi, Haiyun & Sivakumar, Bellie & Peart, Mervyn R., 2016. "Population, water, food, energy and dams," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 18-28.
    4. Thiago B. A. Couto & Mathis L. Messager & Julian D. Olden, 2021. "Safeguarding migratory fish via strategic planning of future small hydropower in Brazil," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(5), pages 409-416, May.
    5. Edgardo M. Latrubesse & Eugenio Y. Arima & Thomas Dunne & Edward Park & Victor R. Baker & Fernando M. d’Horta & Charles Wight & Florian Wittmann & Jansen Zuanon & Paul A. Baker & Camila C. Ribas & Ric, 2017. "Damming the rivers of the Amazon basin," Nature, Nature, vol. 546(7658), pages 363-369, June.
    6. C. J. Vörösmarty & P. B. McIntyre & M. O. Gessner & D. Dudgeon & A. Prusevich & P. Green & S. Glidden & S. E. Bunn & C. A. Sullivan & C. Reidy Liermann & P. M. Davies, 2010. "Erratum: Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity," Nature, Nature, vol. 468(7321), pages 334-334, November.
    7. Chuenchum, Pavisorn & Xu, Mengzhen & Tang, Wenzhe, 2023. "Assessment of reservoir trapping efficiency and hydropower production under future projections of sedimentation in Lancang–Mekong River Basin," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. G. Grill & B. Lehner & M. Thieme & B. Geenen & D. Tickner & F. Antonelli & S. Babu & P. Borrelli & L. Cheng & H. Crochetiere & H. Ehalt Macedo & R. Filgueiras & M. Goichot & J. Higgins & Z. Hogan & B., 2019. "Mapping the world’s free-flowing rivers," Nature, Nature, vol. 569(7755), pages 215-221, May.
    9. Barbara Belletti & Carlos Garcia de Leaniz & Joshua Jones & Simone Bizzi & Luca Börger & Gilles Segura & Andrea Castelletti & Wouter van de Bund & Kim Aarestrup & James Barry & Kamila Belka & Arjan Be, 2020. "More than one million barriers fragment Europe’s rivers," Nature, Nature, vol. 588(7838), pages 436-441, December.
    10. C. J. Vörösmarty & P. B. McIntyre & M. O. Gessner & D. Dudgeon & A. Prusevich & P. Green & S. Glidden & S. E. Bunn & C. A. Sullivan & C. Reidy Liermann & P. M. Davies, 2010. "Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7315), pages 555-561, September.
    11. Rachel A. Spinti & Laura E. Condon & Jun Zhang, 2023. "The evolution of dam induced river fragmentation in the United States," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Molle, Francois, 2008. "The \Desert Bloom\ syndrome: politics, ideology, and irrigation development in the Northeast of Thailand. Working paper," IWMI Working Papers H041827, International Water Management Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie & Maruf Yakubu Ahmed & Phebe Asantewaa Owusu, 2022. "Global adaptation readiness and income mitigate sectoral climate change vulnerabilities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Cai, Benan & Long, Chengjun & Du, Qiaochen & Zhang, Wenchao & Hou, Yandong & Wang, Haijun & Cai, Weihua, 2023. "Analysis of a spray flash desalination system driven by low-grade waste heat with different intermittencies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    3. Yang, Lin & Pang, Shujiang & Wang, Xiaoyan & Du, Yi & Huang, Jieyu & Melching, Charles S., 2021. "Optimal allocation of best management practices based on receiving water capacity constraints," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    4. Andrew John & Avril Horne & Rory Nathan & Michael Stewardson & J. Angus Webb & Jun Wang & N. LeRoy Poff, 2021. "Climate change and freshwater ecology: Hydrological and ecological methods of comparable complexity are needed to predict risk," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), March.
    5. Rabeya Sultana Leya & Sujit Kumar Bala & Imran Hossain Newton & Md. Arif Chowdhury & Shamim Mahabubul Haque, 2022. "Water security assessment of a peri-urban area: a study in Singair Upazila of Manikganj district of Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 14106-14129, December.
    6. Ting Xu & Baisha Weng & Denghua Yan & Kun Wang & Xiangnan Li & Wuxia Bi & Meng Li & Xiangjun Cheng & Yinxue Liu, 2019. "Wetlands of International Importance: Status, Threats, and Future Protection," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-23, May.
    7. Donna, Javier & Espin-Sanchez, Jose, 2014. "The Illiquidity of Water Markets," MPRA Paper 55078, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kaiser, Nina N. & Ghermandi, Andrea & Feld, Christian K. & Hershkovitz, Yaron & Palt, Martin & Stoll, Stefan, 2021. "Societal benefits of river restoration – Implications from social media analysis," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    9. Teng Wang & Jingjing Yan & Jinlong Ma & Fei Li & Chaoyang Liu & Ying Cai & Si Chen & Jingjing Zeng & Yu Qi, 2018. "A Fuzzy Comprehensive Assessment and Hierarchical Management System for Urban Lake Health: A Case Study on the Lakes in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, November.
    10. Ran He & Zhen Tang & Zengchuan Dong & Shiyun Wang, 2020. "Performance Evaluation of Regional Water Environment Integrated Governance: Case Study from Henan Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-13, April.
    11. Xiukang Wang, 2022. "Managing Land Carrying Capacity: Key to Achieving Sustainable Production Systems for Food Security," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, March.
    12. Yanting Zheng & Jing He & Wenxiang Zhang & Aifeng Lv, 2023. "Assessing Water Security and Coupling Coordination in the Lancang–Mekong River Basin for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Steve Hamner & Bonnie L. Brown & Nur A. Hasan & Michael J. Franklin & John Doyle & Margaret J. Eggers & Rita R. Colwell & Timothy E. Ford, 2019. "Metagenomic Profiling of Microbial Pathogens in the Little Bighorn River, Montana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-18, March.
    14. Langhans, Kelley E. & Schmitt, Rafael J.P. & Chaplin-Kramer, Rebecca & Anderson, Christopher B. & Vargas Bolaños, Christian & Vargas Cabezas, Fermin & Dirzo, Rodolfo & Goldstein, Jesse A. & Horangic, , 2022. "Modeling multiple ecosystem services and beneficiaries of riparian reforestation in Costa Rica," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    15. Hossein Mikhak & Mehdi Rahimian & Saeed Gholamrezai, 2022. "Implications of changing cropping pattern to low water demand plants due to climate change: evidence from Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(8), pages 9833-9850, August.
    16. Dietrich Earnhart & Nathan P. Hendricks, 2023. "Adapting to water restrictions: Intensive versus extensive adaptation over time differentiated by water right seniority," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(5), pages 1458-1490, October.
    17. Hong-Wei Liao & Zhong-Cheng Jiang & Hong Zhou & Xiao-Qun Qin & Qi-Bo Huang & Liang Zhong & Zheng-Gong Pu, 2022. "Dissolved Heavy Metal Pollution and Assessment of a Karst Basin around a Mine, Southwest China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, November.
    18. Jianan Qin & Xiang Fu & Shaoming Peng & Yuni Xu & Jie Huang & Sha Huang, 2019. "Asymmetric Bargaining Model for Water Resource Allocation over Transboundary Rivers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-23, May.
    19. Huang, Dayan & Liu, Chengyi & Yan, Zehao & Kou, Aiju, 2023. "Payments for Watershed Services and corporate green innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 541-556.
    20. Xiaokuan Ni & Zengchuan Dong & Wei Xie & Shujun Wu & Mufeng Chen & Hongyi Yao & Wenhao Jia, 2022. "A Practical Approach for Environmental Flow Calculation to Support Ecosystem Management in Wujiang River, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-18, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124008840. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.