Mongabay —
A new study has identified 2050 as the tipping point by which stakeholders in the Mekong Delta will no longer be able to mitigate the issue of saltwater intrusion, which has already devastated agriculture in parts of Vietnam’s leading rice-producing region.
The study, led by Sepehr Eslami, a senior researcher and adviser at Deltares, a Dutch consultancy, argues that the biggest causes behind the issue are currently anthropogenic, but by 2050 climate change will likely play the bigger role, putting the issue into the hands of global cooperation.
In effect, it puts a new deadline on mitigation on the ground in the Mekong Basin, while also providing the data needed for leaders to move forward and meet this deadline.
It also has implications on a broader scale for other deltas, particularly in Asia, providing key principles for delta scientists to rethink research in areas that are facing similar issues.