But a more recent News.com.au article noted that Don Sahong will be an even greater liability outside of Laos’ borders. Because of Don Sahong’s placement on one of the Mekong River’s ‘braided channels’ two kilometres upstream from the Laos-Cambodia border, that latter nation could suffer a devastating key food supply loss because the dam could reduce the region’s fisheries by 330,000 tonnes per year, upon which a million Cambodians rely for food. The article went on to quote Sydney University’s School of Geosciences professor Philip Hirsch, who warned the dam will have “… a major, major impact in Cambodia on the source of that country’s animal protein which the poor depend on for the bulk of their dietary requirements.”
The braided channels may flow within an area defined by relatively stable banks or may occupy an entire valley floor. The Rakaia River in Canterbury, New Zealand has cut a channel 100 metres wide into the surrounding plains; this river transports sediment to a lagoon located on the river-coast interface.