Living with Environmental Change: Livelihood Transformations in the Mekong Delta

"The Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) is a vital region for national food security and global agricultural markets but is threatened by climate change, hydropower dams, sand mining. Despite efforts to foster resilience, there remains a critical gap in understanding how these agricultural transformations respond to environmental challenges."

Project Team

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) is one of the world’s most economically productive and densely populated delta regions. However, climate change, sea-level rise, salinity intrusion, upstream hydropower development, sand mining, land subsidence, and unsustainable land and water management practices have threatened agricultural productivity, ecosystem health, and rural livelihoods. In response, we have developed a novel Socio-ecological Livelihood Pathway Framework (SLPF) to explain how external drivers like climate change and upstream dams, and internal stressors like groundwater extraction and sand mining have contributed to livelihood transformations in the VMD. In addition, this robust, multi-scale, systems-based framework can be used to identify leverage points for policy and planning. To deal with these environmental challenges, national level plans that promote nature-based solutions, strategic land-use shifts, and regional cooperation for water and sediment management have been introduced. At the local farm level, farmers are now planting two rice crops annually instead of three, choosing to grow salt and drought resistant varieties, adjusting planting schedules and investing in improved irrigation systems. The framework we have developed offers a transferable model for supporting sustainable development, food security, and climate resilience in delta regions worldwide.

Project Implications

• The Socio-ecological Livelihood Pathway Framework (SLPF) that we developed can improve our understanding of how farmers in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta adapt to environmental challenges.
• Farmers have sought to diversify crops, plant salt and drought resistant varieties, change planting schedules and introduce better irrigation systems to maintain agricultural productivity.
• Given that many mega-deltas worldwide are highly stressed and degraded, we can apply the SLPF framework to obtain insights to improve food security and climate resilience.

Resources

Media coverage:

• The PI was interviewed by Mangrovia, an Italian media company. During the interview, the PI pointed out that salinity levels in the Mekong Delta had steadily increased over the years due to climate change, upstream dams and land subsidence. To deal with the threat of saltwater intrusion, rotation farming systems like wet season rice cultivation and dry season aquaculture ponds have been implemented. This article was published on 1 June 2024. https://mangrovia.info/en/the-river-line/
  
  
• The PI was featured in a documentary called “Running Dry.” The documentary was made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and it was aired in June 2024. In the documentary the PI was asked to give his expert opinion on water scarcity in Vietnam.

  https://iview.abc.net.au/show/running-dry?utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared 

• The PI was interviewed by the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper and an article on salinity intrusion issues and management in the Mekong River Delta was published on 30 May 2024.

  https://plo.vn/chuyen-gia-quoc-te-mach-ke-giai-quyet-xam-nhap-man-mien-tay-post789689.html 

• As part of the Earth Day commemoration program, the PI participated in a dialogue session organized by the Environmental Education Team at Millenia Institute on 18 April 2024. During the dialogue, the PI discussed Singapore’s impact and significance in influencing sand mining in countries in the region. In addition, he gave the students advice for developing their school’s Earth Day commemoration program.

  https://www.ntu.edu.sg/nie/news-events/news/detail/earth-day-interview-with-asst-prof-edward-park-on-sand-mining 

• The PI’s work on how sand mining worsened salinity intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) was featured in TUỔI TRẺ CUỐI TUẦN (The Youth Weekend) on 23 March 2024.

  https://cuoituan.tuoitre.vn/nuoc-man-o-dbscl-xua-nay-va-mai-20240322110351795.htm
  

• The PI was interviewed by Singapore’s Power 98 radio station on 6 March 2024. During the interview, The PI was asked to give his views on dwindling fish stocks in the Mekong and what had caused fisheries in the Mekong to decline. Habitat loss, hydropower dams, conversion of wetlands to agriculture and aquaculture, unsustainable sand mining, invasive species and climate change were some of the reasons behind this decline.

  https://www.ntu.edu.sg/nie/news-events/news/detail/power-98-interview-with-asst-prof-edward-park-on-ecological-crisis-in-the-mekong
  

• The PI’s research on saline intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta and illegal sand mining in the Mekong was highlighted in an article on The Diplomat that was published on 9 February 2024. https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/vietnams-climate-solutions-are-decimating-the-mekong-delta/

Selected conference presentations:

#1. Author Names: Dung Duc Tran, Edward Park

Title of Article/Presentation: Understanding salinity intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta to improve local livelihood sustainability

Conference Name: International Conference on Sustainable Environment and Disaster Management (SUSTAIN) 2024

Organiser: Center for Environmental, Mitigation and Disaster Mitigation Research and Community Service

Country/State: Indonesia/Malang

Date of Presentation/Conference/Seminar: 19 Sept 2024

#2. Author Names: Dung Duc Tran, Edward Park, Thein Nguyen, Sonu Kumar, Tran Q. Tho, Tran Thu, Hoang Long, Paolo Tarolli, Jingyu Wang

Title of Article/Presentation: Investigating salinity intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Impacts of climate change and anthropogenic development

Conference Name: International Conference on Green Technology and Management (IFGTM)

Organiser: Thu Dau Mot University

Country/State: Vietnam/Binh Duong Province

Date of Presentation/Conference/Seminar: 15 Nov 2024

#3. Author Names: Dung Duc Tran, Edward Park, Nguyen Duc Thien, Pham Duy Tien, Can Thu Van

Title of Article/Presentation: Understanding the dynamics of rice-based rural out-migration in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam: Exploring climate change effects for sustainable strategies

Conference Name: Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA) Conference

Organiser: Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA)

Country/State: Australia/Melbourne

Date of Presentation/Conference/Seminar: 11 July 2024

#4. Author Names: Dung Duc Tran, Pham Thi Bich Thuc, Jingyu Wang, Edward Park

Title of Article/Presentation: Extent of saltwater intrusion and the freshwater exploitability in the coastal Vietnamese Mekong Delta assessed by gauging records and numerical simulations

Conference Name: American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2023

Organiser: American Geophysical Union

Country/State: USA/San Francisco

Date of Presentation/Conference/Seminar: 14 December 2023

Selected journal articles:

Duc Tran, D., Park, E., Tran, T.A., Vo, T.T., Le, P.T., 2023. Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways. Environmental Technology & Innovation 29, 102987. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102987.

Duc Tran, D., Thi Bich Thuc, P., Park, E., Thi Thanh Hang, P., Ba Man, D., Wang, J., 2024. Extent of saltwater intrusion and freshwater exploitability in the coastal Vietnamese Mekong Delta assessed by gauging records and numerical simulations. Journal of Hydrology 630, 130655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.130655.

Hui, T.R., Park, E., Loc, H.H., Tien, P.D., 2022. Long-term hydrological alterations and the agricultural landscapes in the Mekong Delta: Insights from remote sensing and national statistics. Environmental Challenges 7, 100454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2022.100454.

Tarolli, P., Luo, J., Park, E., Barcaccia, G., Masin, R., 2024. Soil salinization in agriculture: Mitigation and adaptation strategies combining nature-based solutions and bioengineering. iScience 2710. https://doi.org/1016/j.isci.2024.108830.

Tran, D.D., Park, E., Thu Van, C., Nguyen, T.D., Nguyen, A.H., Linh, T.C., Quyen, P.H., Tran, D.A., Nguyen, H.Q., 2024. Advancing sustainable rice production in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta insights from ecological farming systems in An Giang Province. Heliyon 10, e37142. https://doi.org/1016/1010.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37142.

Tran, D.D., Park, E., Tuoi, H.T.N., Thien, N.D., Tu, V.H., Anh Ngoc, P.T., Van, C.T., Kim Long, P., Ho, H.L., Quang, C.N.X., 2022. Climate change impacts on rice-based livelihood vulnerability in the lower Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Empirical evidence from Can Tho City and Tra Vinh Province. Environmental Technology & Innovation 28, 102834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102834.

Tran, D.D., Park, E., Wang, J., Loc, H.H., Lee, J., Zhan, S., Kantoush, S.A., 2025. Environmental pressures on livelihood transformation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Implications and adaptive pathways. Journal of Environmental Management 377, 124597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124597.