Myanmar’s Inle Lake has enchanted tourists for decades with its
floating gardens and graceful leg-rowing fisherman, but experts warn
it’s drying up and urgent action is needed to avoid disaster. Each year
around 200,000 foreigners and one million locals visit Inle.
Many criss-cross the lake on small wooden boats to visit stilted
villages of the Intha ethnic minority, others glide overhead in hot-air
balloons.
But there is a darker side to this seemingly bucolic idyll, says
Martin Michalon – a researcher into the impact of development on the
lake – as farmers race to produce higher yields, pesticides and
fertilisers slowly poison the water.
Source - PhnomPenhPost
