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A podcast about navigating the crisis, solutions, and future of the Mekong Delta.
On my own estimate is that the delta will disappear altogether physically in a matter of 200 years.
Mari Pilling:Welcome to episode 2 of the Dying Dragons, the solution. I'm your host, Mari Pilling. In last episode, we learned about the Mekong's complex network of rivers and canals, known as the 9 dragons. A changing landscape that once had 9 mouths flowing into the sea. The Ba Thac River disappeared about a 100 years ago due to natural deposition, while the other, the Ba Lai River, was dammed by the government in 2000.
Mari Pilling:As we explored in the last episode, the Mekong River is the 12th largest river worldwide, spanning over 2,700 miles. It's a lifeline for Vietnam, providing 50% of its food production and sustaining 18,000,000 people in their daily activities. However, the Mekong faces severe challenges like climate change, sand mining, and dam building. With this rapid urbanization, it's the 10th most polluted river in the world due to garbage dumping. Despite its significance, the Mekong River's future is precarious, facing threats from industrial pollution and climate change.
Mari Pilling:A historical map from 1910 showing that the once mighty river began its evolution and raised concerns about the sustainability of this vital lifeline. Environmental changes, including siltation, erosion, and shifting weather patterns bring anxiety to the community along its banks.
Dr. Thein:In our opinion, the delta is a living body, with functioning organs and processes just like a body, like a human body. You need to treat the delta as a whole.
Mari Pilling:The self proclaimed delta boy, doctor Thein, remembers what it's like growing up in a small village that relied on the Delta for everything, from fishing in the river to farming in the field.
Dr. Thein:I'm a Delta boy. I was born a Delta Delta boy. A Delta boy, I knew everything about village life. I was born in a, a poor village, not poor. Poor by UN standard.
Dr. Thein:We didn't have any cash, but we had everything we needed. To me, it was a paradise, and things had changed, and the paradise lost within 1 generation. So our generation is the the very witness of, the change. We lived, in harmony with nature. My childhood, memories, no place to go back.
Dr. Thein:Now you have even paved roads in the village. Unbelievable. But no more fish, no more nostalgic river in the past.
Mari Pilling:Life in the Mekong Delta revolves around water, sustaining 18,000,000 people and contributing to half of the nation's food production. Shrimp farms and rice paddy fields are essential for both export and domestic markets. However, rapid urbanization has led to serious water pollution issues, impacting public health and the environment. Local governments in the Mekong Delta acknowledge the challenges in wastewater management, such as population growth and infrastructure aging, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Vietnam. Despite recognizing it as a high priority, they grapple with the growing modernization and urban population and the need for effective solutions, like preventing polluted water from reaching the sea.
Mari Pilling:As the population in the delta grows, so does the accumulation of trash, leading to heightened pollution levels in the water. Increased trash production means more extensive waste collection efforts, placing additional strain on the 750 treatment plants for the whole country. The demand for larger treatment facilities arises, requiring substantial resources and altering the natural landscape.
Dr. Thein:And then in the end, the government of Vietnam issued Resolution 120. It's a lengthy document, but, it can be summarized with, several bullet points.
Mari Pilling:Resolution 120 is a crucial guideline respecting the rules of nature. It emphasizes a need for a comprehensive and eco conscious approach to treating the delta as a whole. This resolution recognizes the interconnectedness of ecosystems. With multiple ecologists leading the charge for new legislation. The government issued a new thinking on sustainable development of the Mekong Delta to adapt to climate change efforts.
Dr. Thein:So we decide from now on, we're gonna respect the the laws of nature. We're gonna avoid, aggressive intervention into nature. Meaning, before we didn't we didn't hesitate for a second to build this and that large scale infrastructure to intervene into the processes of the Delta for the in the name of food security. Now we have to think twice. Number 2 principle.
Dr. Thein:We're gonna embrace not only freshwater, but brackish water and saline water as resources also. Wow. New way of thinking. Before, we automatically took practice and saline water as enemies. So we saw only freshwater as friend, good for irrigation, good for rice production.
Dr. Thein:Now we we embrace all of them, buckets and satellite water resources because when we separated separated the the, saline and brackish water with infrastructure, we cut off the sea from the land, and we we saw the problem, stagnant water and so on, and depletion of soil, nutrients by, intensive farming, and the addition of natural resources. So and now we see economic opportunities in in the practice and saline water. All we have to do now is to realize the the values. You don't have to fight with nature anymore. So the the, the philosophy now is to live with nature instead of fighting with nature.
Dr. Thein:You don't need to fight with nature.
Mari Pilling:The 9 dragon faces challenges, but these resolutions provide a road map for sustainable development, such as protection of natural ecosystems, rethinking food security of each area and according to market needs, and rethinking the extraction and use of water resources. This resolution also brings up other questions of waste management. According to a law magazine called Vietnam Briefing, urban areas like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City account for 7000 to 9000 tons of trash each day, and this amount is projected to by 10 to 16 percent by 2025. Collecting it is a daily priority. U REN Co.
Mari Pilling:Is an international energy supplier that plays a crucial role in collection services, which ends up in landfills. Even though burning trash is forbidden in Vietnam and comes with a fine of 1,000,000 dong or 20 American dollars, when walking the streets of Vietnam, you will see that the majority of people resort to incinerating their trash in the street because there is no other way to dispose of their waste. Trash services like this one help reduce the chances of pollution seeping into their waterways. However, with the Mekong Delta's rapid urbanization, waste management becomes more challenging. According to the Vietnam Urban Environment Program, Vietnam has made commendable progress in improving sanitation, investing around $150,000,000 annually in wastewater management.
Mari Pilling:Yet with the country's urban growth, this investment needs to triple to combat environmental pollution effectively. From the Kai Rang floating markets, a tour guide named Nguyen Phuc shared his experience of the river.
Ngyen Phuc:Yeah. It's kinda like I'm kinda embarrassed about that because, like, some residents, they don't want to be charged by the trash collector. So they just put into, like just litter the trash into the into the street or literally on on the river in the river. Yeah. They think that the money they spend for a trust collector is is not, like, worthy.
Ngyen Phuc:I hope that the government will have some, like, they will, like, take action for them. Yeah. Because a lot of, like, tons of, like, tourists, like, told told me that the Kairan floating market was, like, packed up trash and garbage. Yeah. Yeah.
Ngyen Phuc:It's really sad.
Mari Pilling:In order for real change to come into reality, the politicians, scientists, and farmers need to all be working together towards one common goal, taking care of their dragons. The Vietnamese are still learning from their past mistakes and taking care of their environment to look to a brighter future. A University of Nebraska Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications production. We would like to thank our sponsor, the Buffet Fund, along with our partners in Vietnam, the Global Engagement Institute, along with Can Thao University, and finally, the Asian Community and Cultural Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.