2007) Water environmental governance in the Mekong River

The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam is the largest agriculture and aquaculture production region of the nation. The total natural area of the Delta amounts to 3.9 million ha, of which 2.4 million ha of land is currently used for agriculture and aquaculture and 0.4 million ha for forestry. As the most downstream part of the Mekong River to both the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, the Delta is a large tropical wetland. Also, the Delta is very densely populated with intense associated water pollution. The combination of the hydrological regime, sea, soil-type and pollution poses water quality management problems for irrigation. This paper identifies five water environmental problems in the Delta that are the principal limiting factors of agricultural production and human health, i.e. (i) the salinity intrusion in the coastal areas, (ii) the effect of acid sulfate soils, (iii) the polluted water from human activities, (iv) the fresh water shortage in the dry season and (v) the flood in the rainy season. The discussion and conclusion present the people’s adaption strategies and water gorvernance issues in pursing sustainable management in the region