Sangker River is one of the important water system in Cambodia, associated with immense social, economic, environmental and cultural values to Cambodian population. Facing rapid environmental changes driven by climate change and human activities (land-use changes, agricultural and industrial diversifications), the quality of water and biodiversity in the river become now a sensitive issue to tackle in order to ensure the sustainable uses of river ecosystem services in response to the above rapid changes.
Researchers from the Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology (ECOFRESH) from the National University of Battambang (NUBB) is conducting the Sangker river ecosystem health assessment using benthic diatom as the bioindicator for water quality assessment, as well as, ecosystem health. This technique is one of the newly introduced methods and has never been applied in Cambodian water systems. Meanwhile, these benthic diatoms provide us accurate results and quite sensitive to the multiple pollutions caused by human activities.
Therefore, the results from this research project will inform us for sure the variation of ecosystem health quality along the Sangker River; be the foundation for further research work and platform for scientific data bank for Sangker river; enhance the scientific knowledge to ensure the sustainability of its ecosystem services facing rapid global environmental changes.Meanwhile, the project objectives are well suited to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, 11, 13 and 14, as well as, the National Environmental Strategy and Action plan (NESAP) 2016-2023 of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). This research project is jointly implemented by the NUBB-ECOFRESH research team and researchers from Laboratory of Evolution and Biological Diversity of the University of Toulouse 3-Paul Sabatier, France and funded by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD).
Here are some of the research activities from NUBB research team during the water quality and benthic diatom sampling campaign along the Sangker River.
