Vietnam News 23 Mar 09;
CAN THO — Work to help the Cuu Long (Me kong) Delta cope with the impacts of rising sea levels will be carried out this year through an irrigation development project, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Construction Management Department.
The project will include work on controlling salinity levels and ensuring fresh water supplies for local residents and agricultural production.
Global warming forecasts indicate that about 20,000sq.km of coastal land in the delta will be submerged in 10 years due to climate change. Water flow in the Mekong River is forecast to reduce by 2 to 24 per cent during the dry season and increase by 7 to 15 per cent during the flood season.
The department reported that droughts would pose a greater threat to the delta, while the intensity of floods would also increase.
Floods are forecast to be more intense in the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Long An, Tien Giang, Kien Giang, Vinh Long and Hau Giang.
Scenarios
A scenario on rising sea levels carried out by the Can Tho University’s Climate Change Research Institute showed that if the sea level increased by one metre by 2030, a large area of Cuu Long Delta would be submerged. Ben Tre Province would be the hardest hit, with 51 per cent of land flooded, while 49.4 per cent of land will be submerged in Long An Province and 43 per cent in HCM City.
The institute’s director, Le Quang Tri, said the institute was focusing on researching ways to best deal with this threat.
"It is necessary to carry out projects that raise the community’s adaptive capacity to the rising sea level," said Tri.
The region’s farms and aquaculture are also under threat from increased salinity, which may occur during droughts as sea water reaches fields further inland.
Doctor Le Sam from the Southern Irrigation Science Institute said salinity had encroached 70km inland in the Delta provinces through six river gates on the Mekong River. Some localities in the delta now lacked fresh water.
The Cuu Long Delta irrigation development project, with an investment capital of US$101.8 million funded by the World Bank, will address the salinity threat as well as include work on the O Mon – Xa No water supply and drainage system in Can Tho and Hau Giang provinces, serving 450,000ha of land and a water supply system for two million people in 13 cities and provinces in the region.
The project was launched in 2004 and so far almost 150 sewage works have been upgraded and 2,000km of channels have been dredged, while as many as 240,000 local households have been provided with access to fresh water. — VNS
