Livelihoods in jeopardy as Vietnam’s Mekong Delta struggles with sediment loss
The World Wide Fund for Nature reported that suspended sediment load in the Mekong Delta declined from 160 million tons in 1992 to 75 million tons in 2014 due to the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs on the mainstream and branches of Mekong River. It noted that sand mining activities were also making the situation worse in many Mekong Delta provinces. Farmers say there have been fewer fish in the river and some kinds have disappeared. Photo: Dinh Tuyen. “Hydropower dams upstream are causing this problem,” Duong Van Ni, a lecturer of environment and natural resources at Can Tho University, said.
