*Sources have requested pseudonyms be used to protect their identity out of fear of retaliation from the government or mining companies BANGKOK, Thailand/RATANAKIRI, Cambodia — “When you touch the water of the O’Ta Bouk River, the mud will stick to your skin,” said Thao*. “It creates skin issues and we can’t catch fish this year anymore. It’s thick, like condensed milk. The oil from the machinery floats on the water surface, so it might affect our health, like our stomach or intestines.” On the quiet banks where the Sesan River and O’Ta Bouk River (also known as the Prek Liang River) meet in the northeastern Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, Ta Bouk village is where Thao calls home. The O’Ta Bouk River flows some 90 kilometers (56 miles) through Virachey National Park, one of Cambodia’s oldest protected areas, before feeding into the Sesan River and providing water to Ta Bouk village, just 2 km (1.2 mi) from the park’s border. The O’Ta Bouk has long sustained the Brao Indigenous communities who live, farm and fish along the river’s banks, providing them with clean, potable water for generations. But Thao’s village is just one of the hundreds across the Mekong region that have seen their life-giving rivers poisoned by toxic runoff from an explosion of unregulated mining, much of this is driven by surging gold prices, rising demand for rare earth elements and limited government oversight or environmental standards. Extensive satellite imagery analysis conducted by U.S. think tank the Stimson Center has uncovered…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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