Half of Mekong Delta to be lost under sea level: research
More than half of the Mekong Delta will disappear under sea level in the next two generations if no action is taken now, research has found.
The results of the five-year-long ‘Rise and Fall’ research project funded by the Netherlands government announced recently shed light on the linkages between land subsidence, groundwater extraction and saline intrusion in the Mekong Delta, locally known as the Cuu Long Delta, while giving out a red alert over the future of Vietnam’s largest rice production area.
Rapid economic development in the region since the 1990s led to a drastic increase of groundwater extraction for agriculture, aquaculture and living activities, researchers from Utrecht University and Deltares Institute found.
