VietNamNet Bridge - Land subsidence in the Mekong Delta is becoming increasingly serious, caused mainly by overexploitation of underground water.

Last year’s drought devastated crops and caused serious losses for farmers in the Mekong Delta. This year, authorities are restructuring crops, building dykes and erecting sluices in anticipation of continuing weather disasters.  

Weather experts expect the southern region to  experience less drought and salinity and more unseasonal rain during this year’s dry season.

VietNamNet Bridge – Signs of growth stagnation in the Mekong Delta in recent years have been blamed on climate change, which has contributed to drought and saline intrusion.

Dr Le Tuan Anh, deputy director of the Research Institute for Climate Change at Can Tho University, speaks to Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper about the negative impact of climate change.

VietNamNet Bridge - The volume of freshwater on canals in the Mekong Delta has decreased quickly, while saline intrusion has begun in many areas.

VietNamNet Bridge - Ten years ago, Vietnam began calling upon farmers to restructure agricultural production, but no considerable changes have occurred. 

Ca ho (Catlocarpio siamensis), vo co (Pangaius sannitwongsei) and tra dau (Pangasianodon gigas) living in the Mekong Delta are all large-size fish which can reach 300 kilos in weight and three meters in length. They are all in danger of extinction.

VietNamNet Bridge - Shrimp waste - heads and shells – are being used to produce animal feed and biological derivatives, resulting in high profits and a reduction of air pollution at processing plants. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Mekong Delta provinces face a threat of H5N1 bird flu with the disease season just starting and farmers leaving their ducks to freely feed in fields following the completion of the winter-spring rice harvest.

Recent torrential rains in many Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces in what is the dry season have damaged crops, including fruit trees.

Agriculture was never found on the list of the most attractive investment channels for those who have idle money. But things are changing.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Mekong Delta provinces have taken measures to counteract drought and salinisation as weather forecasts say that the region could face shortages of water due to a serious drought early in 2017.

VietNamNet Bridge - The dry season in 2017 is expected to be less severe than in 2016, but Mekong Delta will still face a lack of fresh water and saline intrusion, scientists say.

The Cai Rang Floating Market, a national intangible cultural heritage site, is on the 185-kilometre Hau River, a tributary of the Mekong River.

Laos is making hectic preparations for the building of one more hydropower dam – Pak Beng – on the Mekong river section which runs through Oudomxay province.

In the past, Mekong Delta residents, striving to produce as much rice as possible, built closed embankments to prevent floods and cultivate third crops. But now they need floods to preserve water to fight drought and saline intrusion.  

Dried fields, cattle dying of thirst, expensive drinking water, sea water overflowing houses. In 2016, the lives of millions of people in Mekong Delta, Central Highlands and central region were upset because of drought and salinity intrusion.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Environmentalists have underscored the importance of finding ways to store and share water resources in the Mekong Delta as climate change is inflicting huge damage on the arable delta.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Mekong Delta’s economy expanded 6.9% last year, well below 7.8% in 2015, marking the fifth consecutive year the delta had seen its economic growth cooling,