Franco Guidi Photography

Mekong Delta, rising water

Known as Viet Nam’s rice bowl, the Vietnamese provinces in low-lying areas in the Mekong Delta are one of the world’s most vulnerable areas to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

The entire area, Home to more than 17 million people, is at risk of heavy flooding due to water from upstream coupled with quickly rising tides. A predicted sea-level rise of 30 cm by the year 2050 is expected to accelerate salinity intrusion. According to a study by the Southern Irrigation Research Institute, seawater presence affects thousands of hectares of rice fields every year. 

Rising sea levels threaten to engulf the eastern part of Ho Chi Minh City in water by 2030, according to a recent research produced by Climate Central, a U.S.-based science organisation. According to a 2015 study, the most severe subside affected the Vietnamese capital city’s eastern outskirts, along the Saigon River, subsided by an average of 8mm per year during 2006-2010.