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Canterbury researchers in global effort to save Mekong Delta from drowning
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is a global agro-economic powerhouse, home to 17 million people, but rising sea levels and the unsustainable management of water and sediment could drown the delta by the end of the century.
University of Canterbury Professor Tom Cochrane (far right) next to former PhD student Thanh Duc Dang and photographed with local research partners on the Mekong Delta.
UC is part of an international team whose research and call for action has just been published in one of the world’s top scientific journals, Science. The research team’s ongoing work highlights the potential demise of the Mekong Delta and proposes solutions to prevent the loss of this valuable ecosystem.
Report co-author UC Engineering Professor Tom Cochrane and his PhD students have been researching the Mekong since 2009, studying the impact of dams, water infrastructure, climate, and agricultural development on the Mekong River ecosystems and livelihoods.
Titled ‘Save the Mekong from Drowning,” the new paper says people don’t realise how fragile the delta is.
“As most of the 40,000 km2 delta is less than two metres above sea level, this powerhouse could be drowned by the end of the century as a result of global sea-level rise and unsustainable management of water and sediment in the basin,” Professor Cochrane says.
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