For Applicants | Focus Areas | RDMA Priority Countries / Assessment of Fish Natural History in the Lower Mekong Basin Applicant Resources Apply Application Process Eligibility Focus Areas Find a USG-Supported Partner Frequently Asked Questions Eligible Countries: Burma Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia* The Philippines Thailand Vietnam *Malaysian researchers are eligible to participate only as co-PIs, not PIs. Additional Criteria for Applicants: Please see Section V of the Solicitation for General Eligibility requirements. Objectives: The Mekong River has the world's highest fish diversity after the Amazon River. Leaving China, the river flows through the Lower Mekong Subregion, an area comprised of five Southeast Asian countries covering 1.94 million square kilometers with a combined population of approximately 238 million people. Annual fish production in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB; Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam) accounts for approximately 4 million tons of biomass, or 20% of the world's inland fish production—the highest in the world. Long distance, transboundary migratory fish (so-called white fish) account for more than one-third of the LMB fish species captured and fish production by weight. Current plans for hydropower dams in the LMB will disrupt the Mekong’s major fisheries and may result in degraded biodiversity, food security, and local economies. USAID/RDMA has two programs to address the environmental impact of hydropower dams in the LMB: the Climate Resilient Mekong (CRM) program and Smart Infrastructure for the Mekong (SIM). CRM helps Lower Mekong countries study the potential effects of dam construction and identify ways to mitigate impacts on the Mekong River system. USAID’s primary partner for this program is the Natural Heritage Institute (NHI). SIM provides Lower Mekong partner governments with technical assistance from U.S. government scientists and engineers to mitigate the negative social and environmental consequences of infrastructure projects such as hydropower dams. USAID’s primary partners for this program are the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Through PEER, USAID/RDMA would like to support research proposals that will generate critical information on the behavior, function, ecology, migration, reproductive strategies, and genetics of economically important fish in the LMB. Proposed PEER projects should help provide data to assess the impact of hydropower dams (in combination with climate change) on capture fisheries in the Tonle Sap, the Mekong Delta, the 3S rivers (Sesan, Sre Pok, and Sekong rivers), or other parts of the LMB. Regional collaborations among institutions in at least two of the eligible countries are strongly encouraged in order to build a stronger knowledge base and inform decision-making in the region. Proposals should therefore have plans to encourage the uptake of information produced through the PEER activity, particularly through other relevant regional and bilateral USAID activities, such as CRM and SIM.