PM addresses Mekong Delta's environment crisis

The rate of land subsidence in the delta, the nation’s agriculture hub, is 3-4 times higher and 10 times higher in some places compared to the sea level rise, the PM said.

"Over the past 50 years, the area of mangroves in the Mekong Delta has decreased by about 80%. Particularly between 2011 and 2016, 300-500 hectares of mangroves were lost each year, affecting thousands of households along the coast, riverside and canals," PM Chinh told a meeting with authorities of 13 localities in the delta.

The PM said as the Mekong Delta is a region with economic significance, but it is facing many challenges, including impacts of climate change, sea level rise, the exploitation and use of water by countries upstream of the Mekong, resulting in freshwater shortages, the sharp decline of alluvium, and subsidence.

Many embankments and coastal roads have now already been flooded by the tide though they were originally designed to be high enough.

To cope with the situation, the head of the government ordered Can Tho City and 12 provinces in the delta to review areas where erosions are at especially dangerous level, affecting people and their properties, to formulate protection projects. 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks as he is on board a trip to survey a sea dike in the Mekong Delta, August 11, 2023. Photo by VNA

At the same time, he also assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to arrange financial resources to support those localities.

In the long term, the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Science and Technology, and Natural Resources and Environment are being assigned to study and identify specific causes of riverbank erosion, coastal erosion, and mangrove degradation to come up with suitable and effective solutions.

Before the meeting, the PM and his delegation took a helicopter and motorboat to survey the sea dike along the Mekong Delta’s west coast, and anti-erosion embankments in the area.

Official data shows that since 2016, the Mekong Delta contains around 780 erosion areas with a total length of over 1,130 km, including more than 660 riverbank erosion areas with a total length of 775 km, and over 110 coastal erosion areas across 390 km.