Programs & Events
Ambassador Rodley Opens the DRAGON Summit
Angkor Century Hotel, Siem Reap
June 22, 2009
On June 22 Ambassador Carol A. Rodley opened the 2009 Delta Research and Global Observation Network (DRAGON) Asia Summit at the Angkor Century Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. In her welcome and introductory remarks Ambassador Rodley addressed the importance of deltas, rivers, and lakes, highlighting the Mekong Delta and the Tonle Sap—the largest lake in Southeast Asia—as examples of how water sources are critical to the livelihood of the Cambodian people.
“No matter where they are in the world, rivers and lakes serve as important resources that provide water, food, transportation routes, power, and a host of other services,” the Ambassador said. She highlighted the Mekong Basin as an important water resource example, saying that the basin “is a complex and extensive network that touches the lives of millions of people.”
Ambassador Rodley remarked on the traditional Khmer saying, “‘Where there is water, there is fish,’” saying that the “fascinating statistics about the unique properties of the Mekong’s ecosystem” can explain why the Cambodian culture values water, rivers, and fish. Today, some experts estimate that the Mekong and Tonle Sap fisheries in Cambodia alone produce more fish than all of the inland fisheries in the United States, and that those fish provide up to 80 percent of the protein in the Cambodian diet.
The Ambassador pointed out how all governments and communities, from the United States to Cambodia, are struggling to find a balance between harnessing the potential of water resources for further development and protecting those resources for future generations.
“The decisions we make on how to use our rivers and lakes have both positive and negative impacts, from the macroeconomic level down to the livelihoods of families and health of individuals,” Ambassador Rodley emphasized. “Scientific research and data on the existing states of rivers and lakes, as well as how various factors could impact them, are essential to help policy-makers find the appropriate balance between development and conservation.”
In her address Ambassador Rodley also presented “Forecast Cambodia,” a demonstration of a U.S. Geological Survey tool that can be used to help policy makers assess and predict the effects of various stress factors on a major river or delta system. “Forecast Cambodia” featured Cambodia's Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers as prime examples of affected river systems.
Conference Chair Gregory J. Smith of the U.S. Geological Survey said that this year’s summit is DRAGON’s fifth international meeting and is the network’s first summit in Asia. Mr. Smith underlined the four major themes of the summit, saying the DRAGON summit aims to empower attendees “to understand” the current state of deltas, rivers, and great lakes around the world, “to exchange” information, “to experience” life on the Tonle Sap through a six-hour trip, and “to envision” the future.
The four-day summit began on June 22 and culminated on June 25. The summit aimed to produce a ‘Strategic Vision’ that identifies where future efforts will likely have the greatest impact to inform future development and management strategies for water resources and their ecosystems in the context of climate change, expanding development, and social change.
