- A prolonged drought in Southeast Asia has wiped out large numbers of fish in southern Vietnam.
- The climate crisis and human development threaten the Mekong Delta, an important agricultural center of the world.
- Despite infrastructure measures, some farmers still struggle to access water.
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Weeks of drought in parts of Southeast Asia have killed hundreds of thousands of fish in Vietnam’s reservoirs and pushed a key coffee price index to record levels. These are just two indicators of the kind of havoc the climate is wreaking on people and economies.
In Vietnam, the labyrinth of wetlands that make up the Mekong Delta is called the country’s “Rice Bowl” because it supports extensive agriculture. The climate crisis and human development threaten the water the region depends on, especially in El Niño years like this one.
As Vietnam’s freshwater levels drop, saltwater intrudes, causing massive economic destruction. According to the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, from 2020 to 2023, the Mekong Delta will lose VND70 trillion, or $2.96 billion, annually due to salt intrusion. Said Mid-March. According to the ministry, these numbers are expected to increase further in the coming years.
Although Vietnam no longer has a strong agricultural economy, statistics show that agriculture still accounted for about 12% of GDP last year. world bank.
It is too early to know exactly how this year’s drought, exacerbated by El Niño, will affect harvests and exports. However, early gauges indicate that there is a problem with at least one major export. Vietnam’s Coffee Association announced in late March that exports of Robusta coffee, which is used to make espresso and instant coffee, could fall by up to 20% in the 12 months to September compared to the same period last year. Vietnam is the world’s largest producer of Robusta, and futures prices for the bean hit a 16-year high last week.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of fish died in reservoirs in southern Vietnam last month after high temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit and weeks without rain. According to AFP news agency. Residents blamed the weather and reservoir management.
Business Insider was unable to locate the owner of the reservoir for comment.
Irrigation measures, including those introduced after the devastating drought of 2020, have helped keep large parts of the Mekong Delta moist despite widespread dryness. report Last week’s Mekong Dam Monitor. The group, run by a US think tank, highlighted that two southern states remain in “extremely dry” conditions, where crops are being harvested this month, the group said.
Water levels are below average at 13 of the country’s 24 monitoring stations, mainly in the far north and far south, the intergovernmental agency said. Mekong River Commission.
Vietnam has built critical infrastructure to combat increasingly severe drought, but farmers said: local media They were still struggling last month. Some of the reservoirs from which water must be drawn are contaminated with chemicals such as alum, and other irrigation options are expensive. A farmer in the central province said two acres of rice have been burnt due to the drought.
“Every year, we harvest about 18 bags of rice, each weighing 60 kilograms, but this year we will probably only be able to harvest a few bags because of the water shortage,” Kusol Pun told VnExpress.
At least three states declared a state of emergency last month and asked for government help to address water shortages and salinity issues.
Vietnam’s drought highlights how the climate crisis is affecting agriculture around the world. Lower and less predictable crop yields can lead to problems such as lower productivity, higher inflation, and poor nutritional status, among others.