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Researchers and environmental activists generally attribute the pollution to illegal mines in neighbouring Myanmar, whose long-running civil war enables unregulated exploitation of natural resources, including rare earth elements used in smartphones, wind turbines, electric vehicles and more.

“Conflict, fragmented governance and global markets converge to promote and sustain extraction at the expense of environmental integrity and human security,” the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank said in a report in May.

Researchers from Thailand’s Chiang Mai University found arsenic levels 10 times higher than normal in sediment from the Kok river, a Mekong tributary.

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Assistant Professor Wan Wiriya described it as a “time bomb”, raising long-term risks of cancer and neurological disorders, particularly among vulnerable populations.

Buddhist monks in saffron robes led a protest march along the contaminated waterway, with participants holding signs reading “Rivers are the veins of our lives”.

“We don’t see children playing in the water anymore. We don’t see birds. We don’t see butterflies,” said Sansoen Duangdee, a 69-year-old artist.

“The water is dead. And if the water is dead, what about the people?“

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The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission says it is strengthening regional monitoring and cooperation in the wake of the latest findings, including on heavy metals, but neither Myanmar nor China are members.

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