Sand is key to maintaining coastline, morphological stability of Mekong Delta estuaries

Sand is key to maintaining the coastline and morphological stability of the Mekong Delta estuaries, flood patterns and preventing further inland intrusion.

Marc Goichot, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Freshwater Lead Asia Pacific, made the statement at a workshop on "Building a sand bank and a plan to maintain river morphology in the Mekong Delta" on July 14 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The workshop was co-organised by the Vietnam Disaster Mangement Authority and the WWF- Vietnam.

Goichot said the impact of sand mining has not been fully addressed by climate research and policy so far.

Addressing sand mining as part of a comprehensive and systematic effort to build a more resilient delta is better than taking a cost-effective action to address the risks climate in the delta, he said.

He also added that for freshwater biodiversity, it is necessary to let rivers flow more naturally, improve water quality in freshwater ecosystems, protect and restore important habitats.

In particular, it needs ending overfishing and unsustainable sand mining in rivers and lakes as well as preventing and controlling invasions of non-native species, he said.

It should also protect naturally-flowing rivers and remove old dams, he said.

Speaking at the workshop, Nguyen Van Tien, Deputy General Director of the Viet Nam Disaster Mangement Authority said riverbank and coastal erosion in the Mekong Delta provinces has been developing very complex and it tends to increase.

Many areas of erosion have directly threatened people's lives and properties, natural disaster prevention works, riverside and coastal infrastructure, seriously affecting the ecological environment, he said.

A serious landslide recently occurred with a total length of 110m, inundating more than 300 local houses in the sea dyke of ​​Khanh Binh Tay Commune, Tran Van Thoi District, Ca Mau Province, he said.

According to Tien, recent studies and reports from localities show that unsustainable sand and gravel exploitation is also one of the main causes of riverbank and coastal erosion, causing subsidence of infrastructure works in the delta, he said.

Hoang Viet, WWF – Vietnam’s Freshwater Programme Manager, said that the delta is a fertile land and a rice bowl of Vietnam.

It is facing many challenges due to climate change, upstream development, unsustainable sand mining, groundwater extraction, as well as the heavy use of chemicals in farming activities, making the delta become more at risk, especially in the face of climate change and extreme weather.

The Government has issued the Resolution No 120 on sustainable and adaptive development in the Mekong Delta, he said.

The resolution serves as the basis for our activities towards commitments from the Government, local authorities and units involved in the sustainable development of the delta, he said.

The workshop is within the framework of the project of “Climate change impact mitigation and disaster prevention via the public-private participation in sustainable sand exploitation in the Mekong Delta.”

The workshop was held in both offline and online form with the participation of many experts, scientists and relevant agencies of 13 provinces in the delta.

The workshop aims to officially announce the initial results of the project.

The project was jointly developed by WWF-Vietnam and the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development since 2019. It is scheduled to end in 2023 and funded by the German Government's International Climate Initiative through WWF-Germany.

The project will contribute to maintaining important ecological functions and mitigating socio-economic risks caused by climate change in the Mekong Delta. Specifically, it will build a database of total sediments (mainly sand and gravel) for the delta in collaboration with important partners. It will increase awareness of the community and decision-making agencies about the impacts of unsustainable sand and gravel mining, which increases natural disasters in the delta. It also enhances the ability of partners to access information on risks related to sand and gravel mining and promote the search for alternative sources of sand and gravel in the construction sector; developing recommendations and guidelines on sustainable sand and gravel exploitation and integrating them into policies on disaster prevention and sustainable development in the delta./.