The Cambodian Mekong floodplain under future development plans and climate change

Horton, Alexander J.; Triet, Nguyen V. K.; Hoang, Long P.; Heng, Sokchhay; Hok, Panha; Chung, Sarit; Koponen, Jorma; Kummu, Matti

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-967-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-967-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-967-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

Research article

|

22 Mar 2022

Research article |

| 22 Mar 2022

The Cambodian Mekong floodplain under future development plans and climate change

Alexander J. Horton, Nguyen V. K. Triet, Long P. Hoang, Sokchhay Heng, Panha Hok, Sarit Chung, Jorma Koponen, and Matti Kummu

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-967-2022-supplement

Data sets

Future water level, discharge, and flood maps under climate change and infrastructure impacts along the Cambodian Mekong A. J. Horton, M. Kummu, N. V. K. Triet, and L. P. Hoang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6341785

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Short summary

We studied the cumulative impact of future development and climate change scenarios on discharge and floods in the Cambodian Mekong floodplain. We found that hydropower impacts dominate, acting in opposition to climate change impacts to drastically increase dry season flows and reduce wet season flows even when considering the higher RCP8.5 level. The consequent reduction in flood extent and duration may reduce regional flood risk but may also have negative impacts on floodplain productivity.