Speakers at the seminar (Photo: VNA)The alarming data was shared by experts from the World Wide Fundfor Nature (WWF) in Vietnam at a recent seminartitled "Sustainable sand management in the Mekong Deltaand solutions to the scarcity of sand in the Mekong Delta" in thecity of Can Tho.
According to the WWF, overexploitation of sand has exacerbated theeffects of climate change and the rise in sea level, especially in the face ofriverbank erosion.
The report of the WWF in Vietnam and the General Departmentof Natural Disaster Prevention and Control under the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development showed that landslides have been widespreadin the whole delta.
On average, each year, the Mekong Delta loses about 500ha ofland. In the three years from 2018 to 2020, landslides caused more than 200billion VND (8.4 million USD) in damage to the provinces of An Giang, DongThap, Can Tho, Vinh Long and Ca Mau.
The main cause of landslides is the overexploitation ofgroundwater and the construction of a series of hydroelectric dams upstream,especially the increasing exploitation of river sand. Excessive sand miningalso increases the depth of the river bed.
According to Ha Huy Anh, Project Manager of Sustainable SandManagement in the Mekong Delta of the WWF in Vietnam, currently, the volume ofsand poured into the Mekong Delta is about 6.18-7 million tonnes per year andabout 6.5 million tonnes of sand is poured into the East Sea.
Meanwhile, the amount of sand extracted from rivers in this areais between 28-40 million tonnes per year. This means, every year, the MekongDelta is experiencing a sand deficit from 27.5 to 39.5 million tonnes.Unsustainable sand mining is having a significant impact on the morphology ofthe two main rivers in the Mekong Delta, namely the Tien and Hau rivers.
Nguyen Nghia Hung, Deputy Director of the Southern Institute ofIrrigation Science, said that riverbed sand is a particularly necessaryresource for socio-economic development needs. In particular, in the MekongDelta, riverbed sand is exploited and used mostly to make constructionmaterials and level the ground. However, at present, the problem of sand miningin this area is facing challenges involving climate change andoverexploitation.
According to Hung, there are many research topics on rivermanagement planning and irrigation planning. However, not much research isconducted on sustainable sand mining planning.
Recently, the WWF in Vietnam has implemented the Sustainable SandManagement project. The project will be implemented from July 2019 to May 2024to contribute to maintaining important ecological functions and reducingsocioeconomic risks due to climate change in the Mekong Delta.
One of the project's goals is to increase awareness among communitiesand decision-makers about the impact of unsustainable sand mining, whichincreases natural disasters in the region, and thereby promote the findingof alternative sources of sand and gravel for construction.
According to the WWF in Vietnam, the project willpromote the participation and dialogue among key actors in theVietnamese construction industry, providing information about the risksrelated to sand and gravel mining and opportunities for sustainablealternatives to sand and gravel in Can Tho as well as the Mekong Delta.
At the same time, a communication campaign on the impact ofunsustainable sand and gravel mining in the Mekong Delta will also be carriedout by the WWF to promote urgent action to tackle the problem./.
VNA
