Environmental Pressures and Livelihood Transformation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

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Environmental Pressures and Livelihood Transformation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. A review co-authored by Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate) and colleagues traces 50 years of agricultural shifts as salinity intrusion, sand mining and land subsidence reshape livelihoods, and maps adaptive pathways. Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate) and co-authors. A technician holds a handheld salinity sensor in a brackish canal beside rice paddies and shrimp ponds in the Mekong Delta while a colleague records the reading; an eroded far bank and coconut foliage frame the scene.

Environmental Pressures and Livelihood Transformation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

www.hapri.org

Dung Duc Tran — Senior Research Associate

A review co-authored by Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate) and colleagues explores the relationship between livelihood transformations and environmental pressures in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, analysing agricultural shifts over the past 50 years to identify viable adaptation pathways. The review links climate change-induced sea level rise, hydropower dam development, sand mining and groundwater extraction to land use change and livelihood transformation in a region vital to national food security.

Context

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is a vital region for national food security and global agricultural markets, but it is threatened by climate change, hydropower dams, sand mining and excessive groundwater extraction. These pressures challenge the delta's agricultural productivity and sustainability in the Anthropocene era.

Despite efforts to foster resilience, the authors identify a critical gap in understanding how these agricultural transformations respond to environmental challenges.

*How sand mining shifts urban livelihoods*

Methods

The paper is a review. It explores the multifaceted relationship between livelihood transformations and environmental pressures in the delta, offering a comprehensive analysis of agricultural shifts over the past 50 years in order to identify viable adaptation pathways.

Key findings

The review highlights that climate change-induced sea level rise and hydropower dam development both cause an increase in salinity intrusion, damage many agricultural lands and lead to substantial land use change and livelihood transformation, particularly in the floodplains and coastal areas.
Sand mining has significantly influenced livelihood transitions in urban areas by causing riverbank erosion and leading to agricultural land losses.
Extensive groundwater extraction, which instigates land subsidence, triggers land allocation, particularly in coastal zones.
In their conclusions, the authors describe these pressures as having indirect impacts on agricultural livelihood transformation across the delta, which directly depends on market demands and national policies over different contexts of socio-economic development.

Policy implications

The authors write that groundwater extraction and river sand mining should be gradually banned where the resource is overexploited or limited, guided by clear annual reduction targets. The authors state that a coordinated strategy involving local authorities, scientists and communities is essential for addressing both external and internal pressures on delta environments worldwide.

Keywords:

Vietnamese Mekong Delta
Livelihoods
Salinity Intrusion
Land Use Change
Sand Mining
Adaptation

Link:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124597

Citation:

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.