Additional Context: Wonders of the Mekong, or WoM, was a USAID-funded project entering its ninth year of implementation before it was abruptly terminated in early 2025. With plans to continue through 2029, this $29.7 million project conducted applied research, built capacity, and implemented outreach and communication strategies to highlight the natural, economic, and cultural capital of the Lower Mekong River.

According to Zeb Hogan, research professor of biology at the University of Nevada, Reno and co-director of the Wonders of the Mekong project, close collaboration with the Cambodia Fisheries Administration had increased the national relevance of the body in the country, and brought prominence to issues of biodiversity and conservation to policy debates. The project also worked with about 50 local partners, providing training to over 5,000 people in areas such as technical research, environmental monitoring, and public engagement. Other core components of the project included capacity-building activities with local educational institutions to allow long-term sustainability efforts to continue after U.S. assistance ended as well as building laboratories, research repositories, and fish breeding programs.

Hogan highlighted that, as one of the most active and long-standing U.S.-based science programs in the region, WoM built on over 25 years of U.S. scientific research and helped position the U.S. as a leader in collaborative science and impact.

Source: Wonders of the Mekong