Mekong Delta faces severe climate risks
Nguyễn Hữu Thiện, talks to the newspaper Thanh Niên (Young People) on the eco-system in the Mekong Delta and threats from climate change.
How do you assess the importance of the Government’s Resolution 120 on Sustainable and Climate Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta in the regional development?
The Government’s Resolution 120 has great significance towards the development of the Mekong Delta.
The main messages from Resolution 120 are that development plans should be “harmonious” with nature, shifting mere agricultural practices to an agriculture economy, considering salt water, brackish water and fresh water as natural resources, developing an integrated development planning for the Mekong Delta region, including the coastal waters.
At present, the Mekong Delta faces three main challenges – the impact of climate change and rising sea levels; impacts of the Mekong hydropower network in the upstream areas and internal issues of the delta itself. However, the biggest issue the delta faces is rapid land subsidence which is considered to be much more serious than rising sea levels.
