June 5, 2020 by Vietnam Weekly
I've covered this here before, and will certainly cover it again moving forward: the Mekong Delta presents arguably Vietnam's most pressing environmental crisis moving forward.
Late last month, a 40-meter stretch of National Highway 91 collapsed into the Hau River in An Giang Province. The Hau is a major distributary of the Mekong, and this is far from the first time such an event has taken place.
Almost 30 households in the area now need to relocate, and even more people now have to decided whether to move or risk having the very ground they live on sink into the river.
Another VnExpress article notes that along a 3 kilometer stretch of the highway, the Hau river narrows, so the water flows faster, a situation exacerbated by the lack of sand and sediment, which is held back by upstream dams.
In response, the provincial government will spend US$3 million to fortify the riverbank along highway 91, but such solutions are only temporary at best.
Meanwhile, a deputy prime minister has called for an emergency response plan to climate change in the delta from 2021-2030, as rising seas, coastal erosion and inland subsidence are already having huge impacts.
Given the scale of the challenges facing the region, this plan will have to be a massive undertaking, one with millions of livelihoods at stake.
Late last month, a 40-meter stretch of National Highway 91 collapsed into the Hau River in An Giang Province. The Hau is a major distributary of the Mekong, and this is far from the first time such an event has taken place.
Almost 30 households in the area now need to relocate, and even more people now have to decided whether to move or risk having the very ground they live on sink into the river.
Another VnExpress article notes that along a 3 kilometer stretch of the highway, the Hau river narrows, so the water flows faster, a situation exacerbated by the lack of sand and sediment, which is held back by upstream dams.
In response, the provincial government will spend US$3 million to fortify the riverbank along highway 91, but such solutions are only temporary at best.
Meanwhile, a deputy prime minister has called for an emergency response plan to climate change in the delta from 2021-2030, as rising seas, coastal erosion and inland subsidence are already having huge impacts.
Given the scale of the challenges facing the region, this plan will have to be a massive undertaking, one with millions of livelihoods at stake.
Đăng nhận xét