The Ing River (, , ) is a tributary of the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

in the northern part of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. It has its source in Doi Luang,

Phi Pan Nam Range The Phi Pan Nam Range, also Pee Pan Nam, ( th, ทิวเขาผีปันน้ำ) is a long system of mountain ranges in the eastern half of the Thai highlands. It is mostly in Thailand, although a small section in the northeast is w ...

, in Mae Chai District, Phayao Province. The Ing flows through the plain area of Thoeng District. The Ing Watershed is one of the most abundant watersheds in Thailand. It consists of rich natural resources and ecosystem diversity, including forests, mountains, rivers, stream tributaries, and watershed areas. The 260-kilometer basin river flows from Phayao Province to Chiang Rai Province in Northern part of Thailand before linking to Mekong River.

Course

The Ing is about long and its flow varies seasonally due to the

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fore ...

climate in the region. Flood waters inundate the river basin during the rainy season, spurring migratory fish to enter the Ing from the larger Mekong for the purpose of spawning there. The intermittently flooded forest near its banks allow for ample spawning grounds for a wide variety of river-running fish. Many young and old fish go back downriver with the onset of the dry season. The native people of the Ing River watershed depend on catching migratory fish and other wild riverine animals for their survival. Locals rely upon seasonal fish and their migration, and have learned to catch them with great skill, especially through the use of hundreds of small reservoirs and ponds. At the town

Phayao Phayao () is a city (''thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Phayao Province. For administrative purposes the city is divided into 15 sub-districts (''tambons''), which are further subdivided into 172 administrative villages. The t ...

the Ing River flows through

Phayao Lake Kwan Phayao ( th, กว๊านพะเยา, , ) is a lake in Phayao Province, northern Thailand. ''Kwan'', a word from the northern Thai language, means 'lake' or 'large swamp'. The shape of the lake is a nearly-half-circle-moon shape. Pha ...

The Boon Rueang Wetland Forest Conservation Group

The Boon Rueang Wetland Forest is contained within the Ing River Watershed. Established in August 2015, the Boon Rueang Wetland Forest Conservation Group, from the village Boon Rueang, convinced the government to conserve the largest wetland forest in the Ing River basin rather than develop a special economic zone. Since that momentous achievement, made through advocacy and dialogue, the Group has pioneered a community forestry model that is successfully protecting biodiversity, storing carbon, providing food and livelihoods, and enabling the community to preserve its identity and culture. In June 2020 the Conservation Group was awarded the prestigious

Equator Prize The Equator Prize, organized by the Equator Initiative within the United Nations Development Programme,

by the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP).

References

Rivers of Thailand Tributaries of the Mekong River Geography of Chiang Rai province Geography of Phayao province {{Thailand-river-stub