Extent of illegal sand mining in the Mekong Delta

Sand is a vital ingredient for modern structures and to meet demand, a substantial volume of sand is extracted illegally from riverbeds globally. The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is one of the largest delta in Asia and it has a long history of riverbed sand mining. We quantified the illegal sand mining rate in this major sand mining hotspot, as the difference between the actual volume of sand mined and the allowable rate of sand extraction set by the provincial government. The volume of illegally mined sand decreased from 16.7 Mm 3 /yr in 2013 to 15.5 Mm 3 /yr in 2018-2020. An increase in the allowable rate of sand extraction from 11.5 Mm 3 /yr to 15.1 Mm 3 /yr reduced the volume of illegally mined sand. We recommend that scientific research should be conducted to assess the allowable rates of sand extraction and the volume of sand reserve.