Agriculture

Habitat

Engineering

Ecology

Aerospace engineering

Biology

Geotechnical engineering

Archaeology

Saltwater intrusion

Water resource management

Economics

Geology

Business

Environmental planning

Groundwater

Geography

Hydrology (agriculture)

Threatened species

Environmental resource management

Mekong delta

Hydropower

Environmental science

Delta

Natural resource economics

Aquifer

Electrical engineering

AMBIO

Vietnam Mekong Delta (VMD), the country's most important food basket, is constantly threatened by drought-infused salinity intrusion (SI). The SI disaster of 2020 is recognized as the worst in recent decades, hence inspiring this perspective article. The authors' viewpoints on the disaster's impacts and causes are presented. The arguments presented are mainly drawn from (i) up-to-date publications that report on the recent SI intensification in the VMD and (ii) the power spectral analysis results using water level data. We verified the intensifying SI in the VMD both in its frequency and magnitude and remarked on four of the key SI drivers: (i) upstream hydropower dams, (ii) land subsidence, (iii) the relative sea-level rise, and (iv) riverbed sand mining. Also, a non-exhaustive yet list of recommendable management implications to mitigate the negative effects of the SI is contributed. The mitigation measures must be realized at multiple scales, ranging from pursuing transboundary water diplomacy efforts to managing internal pressures via developing early warnings, restricting illegal sand mining activities, alleviating pressures on groundwater resources, and diversifying agriculture.

The worst 2020 saline water intrusion disaster of the past century in the Mekong Delta: Impacts, causes, and management implications