Tonle Sap lake gets protection

Tonle Sap lake gets protection

PHNOM PENH (AFP): Cambodia has passed legislation making its Tonle Sap lake -- Southeast Asia's largest freshwater body -- a biosphere reserve on par with Yellowstone National Park and the Gobi Desert, officials said on Tuesday.

The cabinet decision last month, made at the urging of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), means three areas of the lake will be protected from development and resource exploitation.

Ministry of environment officials said on Tuesday fishing in the three "core areas" of the lake, a key source of food for Cambodia's rural communities, will be allowed but closely monitored.

With the decree, the lake joins 391 other internationally recognized biosphere reserves, including Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. and the Great Gobi Desert in Mongolia.