Assessing social vulnerability to riverbank erosion across the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

ABSTRACT

Climate change and trans-boundary development in the major deltas of the world, including the Vietnamese Mekong Delta have exacerbated environmental risks. Land subsidence, riverbed sand mining, and intensive groundwater extraction have all contributed to lower channel bed levels, resulting in riverbank erosion and the loss of assets and livelihoods for local residents. This study investigated the drivers, and classified the social vulnerability of local communities affected by riverbank erosion along two main branches in the Vietnamese Mekong. Direct interviews were conducted with 218 erosion-affected households along the Mekong and Bassac rivers in Dong Thap and An Giang provinces in order to create a social vulnerability index. More than 70% of the total surveyed households belonged to the highly, moderately, or low vulnerability groups, suggesting a range of affected communities within the sample, some of whom had the ability to cope with its short-term impacts. However, the estimated social vulnerability index revealed significant geographical heterogeneity, with communities along the Mekong branch being more vulnerable than those along the Bassac. The recommendations from our investigations include the establishment of community awareness programmes, as well as policy changes that ensure and support local residents’ livelihoods adaptation. Stakeholder participation and enhanced community engagement was found to be the most important tools available in terms of aiding local people cope with the complex impacts of riverbank erosion.

KEYWORDS:

• Riverbank erosion
• social vulnerability
• Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Acknowledgement

This research was co-funded by the UK National Environmental Research Council (NERC) and the Viet Nam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under the grant number: NE/P014704/1 ‘The resilience and sustainability of the Mekong delta to changes in water and sediment fluxes (RAMESES)’. Special thanks to Nigel Downes, an expert from GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) and a visiting researcher at Can Tho University for proofreading the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was co-funded by the UK National Environmental Research Council (NERC) and the Viet Nam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under the grant number: NE/P014704/1 ‘The resilience and sustainability of the Mekong delta to changes in water and sediment fluxes (RAMESES)’.