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The people of the lake take advantage of what the lake provides , fish , birdlife , and the myriad of water plants used as crops .
Development of an increasing modern world has seen drastic changes to Tonle Sap . Hydroelectricity schemes are quickly altering the landscape , coastal forests are declining at a rapid rate . It ’ s estimated that more than 80 % will be lost in the next ten years .
Fisheries is a major part of the survival of the people on the lake , it ’ s believed that the lake provided the protein for the people of Angkor in antiquity , the largest preindustrialised settlement anywhere on the planet . Today , Tonle Sap provides the protein for over 60 % of Cambodia ’ s population , commercial fishing is causing problems not least for the people who live on the lake .
Our boat noisily chugs forward as
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