Sinking predicted for Mekong Delta region
The Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, an area that helps feed about 200 million people, is predicted to sink underwater by 2100.
In the past 25 years, Mekong Delta and the communities, cities and rice fields that depend on it, have faced grave risks of higher tides, alluvium sediment starvation, saline intrusion, fresh water shortage, and serious landslides.
According to Dr. Philip Minderhoud from the Utrecht University, the delta, home to almost 18 million people and produces half of Vietnam’s rice output, is only around 1-2 metres above the sea level. And if heavy extraction of ground water and sand mining continue, the land will probably sink into the sea by 2100.
