Why Sand Mining Governance in the Lower Mekong Remains Challenging: An Integrated Driver-to-Management Perspective
A new paper co-authored by Sonu Kumar, Edward Park, Kai Wan Yuen and Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate) argues that sand mining governance in the Lower Mekong Basin remains largely reactive and unevenly effective because the problem is treated in fragments. The authors propose an integrated Driver-to-Management perspective that links construction demand, the footprint of extraction, river-health impacts and governance responses.
Context
Sand mining is widely recognized as one of the most significant threats to river health in the Lower Mekong Basin. There, intensive extraction interacts with sediment starvation, hydropower development, climate variability and delta subsidence, and the resulting environmental impacts are complex and cross national borders.
Scientific evidence on channel incision, bank instability, salinity intrusion and socio-ecological risk has been expanding. Yet, the authors note, governance interventions have not kept pace: they remain largely reactive and unevenly effective.
Methods
The paper is a perspective rather than a new empirical study. It uses the Lower Mekong Basin as the broader governance setting and the Vietnamese Mekong Delta as the principal case, since that is where impacts and data are most clearly documented. From this setting the authors build a framework that treats sand mining as an integrated socio-geomorphic system.
Key findings
The authors argue that governance falls short because demand-side drivers, extraction extent, impacts and management responses are addressed separately, rather than as one integrated socio-geomorphic system.
The paper defines effective and credible governance as management that is evidence-based, spatially attributable, enforceable, socially legitimate, and responsive to sediment-budget and river-health constraints.
Building on this perspective, the authors outline three interdependent governance levers: moderating demand pressure, making extraction spatially visible and traceable, and aligning extraction limits with sediment budgets and river-health outcomes.
The authors conclude that treating sand mining as a coupled socio-geomorphic and common-pool resource problem is necessary for durable river stewardship in the Mekong and other rapidly developing Anthropocene rivers.
Keywords:
Sand Mining
Lower Mekong Basin
Vietnamese Mekong Delta
Sand Mining Regulation
Sediment Budget
River Health
Link:
Citation:
Kumar, S., Park, E., Yuen, K. W., & Tran, D. D. (2026). Why Sand Mining Governance Remains Challenging in the Lower Mekong Basin: The Need for an Integrated Driver‐to‐Management Perspective. River Research and Applications.
