In pictures: Life on the Tonle Sap

The Tonle Sap is vital to Cambodia, both in terms of the wildlife it nurtures and the communities that depend on it to live.

Many people live in floating villages like Preak Toal. In the dry season people group together. But when the lake expands, they spread out and move deep into the flooded forest.

Others live in high stilted houses around the lake. For half the year they live on dry land, but for the other half their fields, roads and bridges disappear under water.

People are very poor and most depend on fishing to live. But the population around the lake is growing, leading to the over-exploitation of its resources.

In the floating villages, every aspect of life is connected to the lake, its seasonal changes and the fish that live in it.

As fish stocks fall, some families have turned to breeding Siamese crocodiles for their skin and their meat. They harvest snakes from the lake to feed them.

Others are experimenting with new money-making projects, such as growing mushrooms inside their houses.

But hundreds of thousands of people depend on the fish in the lake to live - which is why properly managing its resources is so important.