Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A review of the drivers of 200 years of wetland degradation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Regional Environmental Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the anthropogenic factors that have contributed to wetland loss and degradation in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam from 1816 AD to present. Our analysis is framed over five historical periods and highlights the role that seven drivers of wetland degradation have played in the Mekong Delta, including: resettlement and economic development policies; population growth and urbanization; demand for food and reclaiming wetland for agriculture; construction of canals construction of dykes flood protection systems; expansion of travel systems (waterway and roads); and exploitation of wetland natural resources. Of these, government policies for resettlement and economic development seem to have had the greatest impact on wetland loss and degradation in the Mekong Delta throughout the course of history. As a result of these factors, only 0.068 million hectares of the original 4.0 million hectares of the Mekong Delta currently remains as primary swamp forest ecosystem. History suggests that future management of the Mekong Delta should take a holistic approach that includes a better understanding of the implications of past decisions on wetland loss.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barker R, Molle F (2002) Perspectives on Asian irrigation. In: Conference on Asian irrigation in transition—responding to the challenges ahead. Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok

  • Benthem W, van Lavieren LP, Verheugt WJM (1999) Mangrove rehabilitation in the coastal Mekong Delta, Vietnam. In: Streever W (ed) An international perspective on wetland rehabilitation. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 29–36

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Beresford M (1989) National unification and economic development in Vietnam. Macmillan, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Biggs D (2003) Problematic progress: reading environmental and social change in the Mekong Delta. J Southeast Asian Stud 34:77–96. doi:10.1017/S0022463403000055

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biggs D (2004) Between the rivers and tides: a hydraulic history of the Mekong Delta, 1820–1975. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, US

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs D (2005) Canals in the Mekong Delta: a historical overview from 200 C.E. to the present. In: Lehr JH, Keeley J (eds) Water encyclopedia. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp 748–752

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs D (2010) Quagmire: nation-building and nature in the Mekong Delta. University of Washington Press, Seattle

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs D (2011) Aerial photography and colonial discourse on the agricultural crisis in late-colonial Indochina, 1930–1945. In: Ax CF, Brimnes N, Jensen NT, Oslund K (eds) Cultivating the colonies: colonial states and their environmental legacies. Ohio University Press, Athens, pp 109–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs D, Miller F, Hoanh CT, Molle F (2009) The delta machine: water management in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta in historical and contemporary perspectives. In: Molle F, Foran T, Kakonen M (eds) Contested waterscapes in the Mekong region: hydropower, livelihoods and governance. Earthscan, London, pp 203–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Binh NT (2010) Vulnerability and adaptation to salinity intrusion in the coastal province of Tra Vinh, Vietnam. In: Setiadi N, Birkmann J, Buckle P (eds) Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation: case studies from South and Southeast Asia. SOURCE—Publication series of UNU-EHS No. 14/2010, Bonn, pp 32–38

  • Binh C, Phillips M, Demaine H (1997) Integrated shrimp-mangrove farming systems in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Aquac Res 28:599–610. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2109.1997.00901.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binh TNKD, Vromant N, Hung N, Hens L, Boon EK (2005) Land cover changes between 1968 and 2003 in Cai Nuoc, Ca Mau peninsula, Vietnam. Environ Dev Sustain 7:519–536. doi:10.1007/s10668-004-6001-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brocheux P (1995) The Mekong Delta: ecology, economy, and revolution, 1860–1960. Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckton ST, Cu N, Quynh HQ, Tu ND (1999) The conservation of key wetland sites in the Mekong Delta. In: BirdLife International Vietnam Programme Conservation Report No 12. BirdLife International Vietnam Programme, Ha Noi

  • Cai HH, Ha DT, An N, Giang TT (2005) The legal and institutional framework and the economic values of wetlands in the Mekong river delta of Vietnam: a wetlands approach. In: Oh EJ, Ratner BD, Bush S, Kolandai K, Too TY (eds) Wetlands governance in the Mekong Region: country reports on the legal-institutional framework and economic valuation of aquatic resources. WorldFish Center, Penang, pp 97–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Callison CS (1983) Land-to-the-tiller in the Mekong Delta: economic, social, and political effects of land reform in four villages of South Vietnam. Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Can ND, Duong L, Sanh N, Miller F (2007) Livelihoods and resource use strategies of farmers in the Mekong Delta. In: Be TT, Sinh BT, Miller F (eds) Challenges to sustainable development in the Mekong delta: regional and national policy issues and research needs. The Sustainable Mekong Research Network, Bangkok, pp 69–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleary M (2005) Valuing the tropics—discourses of development in the farm and forest sectors of French Indochina, circa 1900–40. Singap J Trop Geogr 26:359–374. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9493.2005.00229.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clough B, Tan DT, Phuong DX, Buu DC (2000) Canopy leaf area index and litter fall in stands of the mangrove Rhizophora apiculata of different age in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Aquat Bot 66:311–320. doi:10.1016/S0304-3770(99)00081-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosslett T, Cosslett P (2014) The Mekong Delta. Water resources and food security in the Vietnam Mekong Delta. Springer, Berlin, pp 3–21

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • de Graaf GJ, Xuan TT (1998) Extensive shrimp farming, mangrove clearance and marine fisheries in the southern provinces of Vietnam. Mangroves Salt Marshes 2:159–166. doi:10.1023/A:1009975210487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Nijs A, Shannon K (2010) Controlled landscapes and (re) designed nature. Climate change knowledge and practices in the Mekong Delta, the case of Cantho. The Production, Use and Dissemination of Urban Knowledge in Cities of the South N-AERUS XI. KULeuven, ULB, ULG, Brussels, Belgium, pp 487–502

  • Egler FE (1968) Herbicides and vegetation management: Vietnam and defoliation. Ecology 49:1212–1215. doi:10.2307/1934521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evers H.-D, Benedikter S (2009). Hydraulic bureaucracy in a modern hydraulic society–strategic group formation in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Water Altern 2:416–439. http://www.water-alternatives.org/

  • Fabres B (2011) Environmental change and agricultural sustainability in the Mekong Delta think global. In: Act global in the Mekong Delta? Environmental change, civil society, and NGOs. Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta, pp 7–34. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-0934-8_2

  • Fforde A, de Vylder S (1996) From plan to market: the economic transition in Vietnam. Westview Press, Boulder, CO

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlayson CM (2003) Integrated inventory, assessment and monitoring of tropical wetlands. In: Bernard T, Mosepele K, Ramberg L (eds) Environmental monitoring of tropical and subtropical wetlands. Okavango Report Series, pp 13–41

  • Finlayson CM (2014). Determining baselines in wetlands. In: Kattel G (ed) Proceedings of the Australia-China Wetland network research partnership symposium. Collaborative Research Network, Federation University Australia, Mt. Helen, Australia, 23–28 March 2014, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS) Nanjing, China, pp 125

  • Finlayson CM, Moser M (1992) Wetlands. Facts on File, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Geist HJ, Lambin EF (2002) Proximate causes and underlying driving forces of tropical deforestation. Bioscience 52:143–150. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0143:PCAUDF]2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GSO (2014) Administrative unit, land and climate. General Statistics Office Of Vietnam (GSO). Accessed 18 Oct 2014. http://www.gso.gov.vn/default_en.aspx?tabid=773

  • Hashimoto TR (2001) Environmental Issues and Recent Infrastructure Development in the Mekong Delta: review, analysis and recommendations with particular reference to large-scale water control projects and the development of coastal areas. WORKING PAPER SERIES Working Paper No 4. Australian Mekong Resource Centre. University of Sydney, pp 70

  • Hawkins S, Phuc XT, Phuong PX, Thuy PT, Tu ND, Cuong CV, Brown S, Dart P, Robertson S, Vu N, McNally R (2010). Roots in the water: legal frameworks for mangrove PES in Vietnam. Katoomba Group’s Legal Initiative Country Study Series, Forest Trends, Washington, DC, pp 55

  • HCL (1998) Using radarsat imagery to assess residual environmental effects of the Vietnam war (1961–1975). Prepared by: Hatfield Consultans Ltd. (HCL), and Prepared for: RUDP COORDINATION OFFICE. Public Works and Government Services Canada Science, Informatics, and Professional Services Sector, Hull, PQ. Hatfield Consultants Ltd., West Vancouver, BC, Canada, pp 127

  • Hickey GC (1964) Village in Vietnam. Yale University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill RD (1984) Aspects of land development in Vietnam. Contemporary Southeast Asia 5. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25797780

  • Hoa LTV (2008) Infrastructure effects on floods in the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. Hydrol Process 22:1359–1372. doi:10.1002/hyp.6945

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoa LTV, Nhan NH, Wolanski E, Cong TT, Haruyama S (2007) The combined impact on the flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong River delta of local man-made structures, sea level rise, and dams upstream in the river catchment. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 71:110–116. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2006.08.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollis GE (1992) The causes of wetland loss and degradation in the Mediterranean. International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, IWRB Special Publication No. 20, 281.5

  • Hong PN (2001) Severe impacts of herbicides on mangroves in the Vietnam War and ecological effects of reforestation. In: Paper presented at the Centre for Excellence (COE) international seminar “Changing People-Environment Interactions in Contemporary Asia: An Area Study Aproach”, Kyoto, Japan

  • Hong PN (2004) Effects of mangrove restoration and conservation on the biodiversity and environment in Can Gio District. In: Vannucci M (ed) Mangrove management and conservation workshop, Okinawa, Japan, 2000. United Nations University Press, pp 111–137

  • Hong PN, San HT (1993) Mangroves of Vietnam. IUCN, Bangkok

    Google Scholar 

  • Joffre OM, Schmitt K (2010) Community livelihood and patterns of natural resources uses in the shrimp-farm impacted Mekong Delta. Aquac Res 41:1855–1866. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2109.2010.02588.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Käkönen M (2008) Mekong Delta at the crossroads: more control or adaptation? Ambio 37:205–212. doi:10.1579/0044-7447(2008)37[205:MDATCM]2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kono Y (2001) Canal development and intensification of rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta: A case study in Cantho Province, Vietnam (<Special Issue> land-use development in the Mekong Delta in the Twentieth Century). 東南アジア研究 = Southeast Asian Stud 39:70–85. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/56773

  • Kotze DC, Bree CM, Quinn N (1995) Wetland losses in South Africa. In: Cowan GI (ed) Wetlands of South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria, pp 263–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Lan N (2011) From rice to shrimp: ecological change and human adaptation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. In: Stewart MA, Coclanis PA (eds) Environmental change and agricultural sustainability in the Mekong Delta. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 271–285

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Le Meur P.-Y, Hauswirth D, Leurent T, Lienhard T (2005) The local politics of land and water: case studies from the Mekong Delta. GRET, Paris. http://www.gret.org/ressource/pdf/07367.pdf

  • Le AT, Chu TH, Miller F, Bach TS (2007) Floods and salinity management in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. In: Be TT, Sinh BT, Miller F (eds) Challenges to sustainable development in the Mekong delta: regional and national policy issues and research needs. The Sustainable Mekong Research Network, Bangkok, pp 15–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Leinenkugel P, Esch T, Kuenzer C (2011) Settlement detection and impervious surface estimation in the Mekong Delta using optical and SAR remote sensing data. Remote Sens Environ 115:3007–3019. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.06.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maspero G (1929) Un empire colonial Francais, l’Indochine. Éditions G. Van Oest, Paris-Bruxelles

    Google Scholar 

  • Mather R (2009) Wetlands in the Mekong basin. Asian Water 19–22. https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/aw_nov_specialfeature_wetlands_rm.pdf

  • Mather R (2010) Wetlands governance in the Mekong Basin: challenges, recent progress and the way forward. In: Taylor RM (ed) Proceedings of the Mekong Environment and Climate Symposium 2010 Mekong River Commission, Office of the Secretariat, Vientiane, Lao PDR, Vientiane, Lao PDR, pp 77–88

  • McElwee P, Horowitz MM (1999). Environment and society in the Lower Mekong Basin: a landscaping review. Institute for Development Anthropology (Binghamton, N.Y.). Oxfam America. Mekong River Basin Research and Capacity Building Initiative, pp 202

  • ME Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: wetlands and water synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003) Ecosystems and human well-being—a framework for assessment. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller F (2003) Society-water relations in the Mekong Delta: a political ecology of risk. Division of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller F (2006) Environmental risk in water resources management in the Mekong Delta: a multi-scale analysis. In: Tvedt T, Jakobsson E, Coopey R, Oestigaard T (eds) A history of water: water control and river biographies. I.B. Tauris, London, pp 172–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser M, Prentice C, Frazier S (1996). A global overview of wetland loss and degradation. Technical Session B, Vol 10/12B, Proceedings of the 6th meeting of the conference of contracting parties. Ramsar Convention Bureau: Gland, Switzerland, Brisbane, pp 21–31

  • Moser M, Prentice C, Frazier S (1998) A global overview of wetland loss and degradation. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Accessed 10 Oct 2013. http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-archives-2002–a-global-overview-of/main/ramsar/1-26-45-87%5E16905_4000_0

  • MRCS/WUP-FIN (2007) Final Report—Part 2: Research findings and recommendations. WUP-FIN Phase 2—Hydrological, Environmental and SocioEconomic Modelling Tools for the Lower Mekong Basin Impact Assessment Mekong River Commission and Finnish Environment Institute Consultancy Consortium, Vientiane, Lao PDR, pp 126

  • Nam VN, Sinh LV (2014) Destruction, restoration and management of Can Gio Mangroves. Studies in Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Mangrove Ecosystems Techinical Reports No 6 International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan, pp 9–13

  • Nam VN, Sinh LV, Miyagi T, Baba S, Chan HT (2014) An overview of can Gio District and Mangrove Biosphere Reserve. Studies in Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Mangrove Ecosystems Techinical Reports No 6. International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan, pp 1–7

  • Nguyen VX, Wyatt A (2006). Situation analysis: plain of reeds, Viet Nam. Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme (MWBP), Vientiane, Lao PDR, pp 60

  • Nhan DK, Be NV, Trung NH (2007) Water use and competition in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. In: Be TT, Sinh BT, Miller F (eds) Challenges to sustainable development in the Mekong Delta: regional and national policy issues and research needs. The Sustainable Mekong Research Network, Thailand, pp 143–188

  • Ni VD, Maltby E, Stafford R, Tuong T-P, Xuan V-T (2003) Status of the Mekong Delta: agricultural development, environmental pollution and farmer differentiation11. In: Torell M, Salamanca AM, Ratner BD (eds) Wetlands management in Vietnam: issues and perspectives. WorldFish Center, Jutaprint, p 89

    Google Scholar 

  • Owada-Shibuya S (2003) Living with uncertainty: the Vietnamese family in the rural Mekong Delta. Ph.D., Harvard University

  • Paris P (1931) Anciens canaux reconnus sur photographies aériennes dans les provinces de Ta Kèv et de Châu-doc. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 31:221–224. doi:10.3406/befeo.1931.4423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasquier P (1930) Dragages de Cochinchine: canal Rachgia-Hatien. Gouvernment Générale de l’Indochine. Inspection générale des travaux publics, Saigon

    Google Scholar 

  • Phuong NT, Hai TN (1998). Coastal aquaculture and environmental issues in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. TCE—Project Workshop No. II: Coastal environmental improvement in mangrove/wetland ecosystems. Danish-SE Asian Collaboration in Tropical Coastal Ecosystem Research and Training (Denmark, Thailand and Malaysia), Ranong, Thailand, pp 120–127

  • Pingali PL, Xuan V-T (1992) Vietnam: decollectivization and rice productivity growth. Econ Dev Cult Chang 40:697–718. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1154630

  • Powell N, Osbeck M, Tan SB, Toan VC (2011). Mangrove restoration and rehabilitation for climate change adaptation in Vietnam. World Resources Report Case Study World Resources Report, Washington, DC. http://www.worldresourcesreport.org/

  • Rambo AT (1977) Closed corporate and open peasant communities: reopening a hastily shut case. Comp Stud Soc Hist 19:179–188. doi:10.1017/S0010417500008604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reis N (2012) Tracing and making the state: policy practices and domestic water supply in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. ZEF Development studies, LIT Verlag Münster, Berlin, Germany

  • Ross P (1975) The mangrove of southern Vietnam: the impact of military use of herbicides. In: Walsh G, Snedaker S, Teas H (eds) Proceedings of international symposium on biology and management of mangroves. Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, University of Florida, Honolulu, pp 695–707

    Google Scholar 

  • Sam DD, Hong PN (2003) Report on: review of national data and information on mangrove forest of Vietnam. UNEP/GEF, Hanoi

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon K (2009). Landscape as urban structure: the case of Cantho, Vietnam. In: Lička L, Schwab E (eds) Landscape—Great Idea! X-LArch III ILA—Institute of Landscape Architecture Vienna, April 29th–May 1st, 2009. Institute of Landscape Architecture, Department of Landscape, Spatial and Infrastructure Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, pp 5

  • Shannon K, de Nijs A (2011) (Re)forming Cantho’s as found canal landscape. Nord J Archit Res 1:54–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Shulman D (2002). Fire management assessment, Tram Chim National Park, Dong Thap Province. Global Fire Monitoring Center, IFFN No. pp 106–113

  • Sluiter L (1993) The Mekong currency: lives and times of a river. International Books Utrecht, Utrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Smardon RC (2009) Sustaining the worlds wetlands: setting policy and resolving conflicts. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka K (1995) Transformation of rice-based cropping patterns in the Mekong Delta: from intensification to diversification. Southeast Asian Stud 33:363–378. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/56556

  • Thomas WL (1974) The effects of Herbicides in South Vietnam. Part B. Working Papers: Economic Stress and Settlement Changes. National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council, Washington, DC, pp 61

  • Tinh HQ, Pacardo EP, Buot IE Jr, Alcantara AJ (2009) Composition and structure of the mangrove forest at the protected zone of Ca Mau Cape National Park, Vietnam. J Environ Sci Manag 12:14–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Torell M, Salamanca AM (2003) Wetlands Management in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta: an overview of pressures and responses. In: Torell M, Salamanca AM, Ratner BD (eds) Wetlands Management in Vietnam: issues and perspectives. World Fish Centre, Penang, pp 1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Trung NH, Tri LQ, van Mensvoort MEF, Bregt AK (2006) Comparing land-use planning approaches in the coastal Mekong Delta of Vietnam. In: Chu TH, Tuong TP, Gowing JW, Hardy B (eds) Environment and livelihoods in tropical coastal zones: managing agriculture-fishery-aquaculture conflicts. CABI, Wallingford, pp 177–192

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Truong TV, Nguyen NA (2002) Water resources development for socio-economic stability and development strategy in the Mekong Delta. National Workshop on “Water, Food And Environment”. Institute of Water Resource Planning-IWRP, Ha Noi, 24–25th September, 2002, pp 16

  • Tuan MS (1997) Building up the strategy for mangrove management in Vietnam. In: Hong PN, Ishwaran N, San NH, Tri NH, Tuan MS (eds) Proceedings of the ECOTONE V, Regional seminar: community participation in conservation, sustainable use and rehabilitation of mangroves in Southeast Asia, 8–12 January, 1996 Mangrove Ecosystem Research Centre (MERC), Vietnam National University, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, pp 244–255

  • Tuan VQ, Kuenzer C (2012) Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve Evaluation 2012: current status, dynamics, and ecosystem services. IUCN, Hanoi, p 102

    Google Scholar 

  • van Asselen S, Verburg PH, Vermaat JE, Janse JH (2013) Drivers of wetland conversion: a global meta-analysis. PLoS One 8:e81292. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Der Schans ML (2006) An ecosystem approach to fire and water management in Tram Chim National Park, Vietnam. Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme (MWBP), Lao PDR, pp 32

  • Vietnam-EPA (2005) Overview of wetlands status in Viet Nam following 15 years of ramsar convention implementation. The World Conversation Union, IUCN Viet Nam, Ha Noi, Vietnam

  • Vietnam-Netherlands Corporation (2011) Towards a Mekong Delta plan. In: Marchand M, Dam R, Bucx T (eds) Synthesis of water sector assessment. Deltares, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Vormoor K (2010). Water engineering, agricultural development and socio-economic trends in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. ZEF Working Paper Series, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, pp 42

  • Westing AH (1971) Forestry and the war in South Vietnam. J For 69:777–783

    Google Scholar 

  • Whigham DF, Dykyjova D, Hejny S (1993). Wetlands of the world: inventory, ecology and management. Volume I. Africa, Australia, Canada and Greenland, Mediterranean, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, South Asia, tropical South America

  • White I (2002) Water management in the Mekong Delta: changes, conflicts and opportunities. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Xuan VT, Matsui S (1998). Development of farming systems in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Saigon Times Group, Vietnam Asia Pacific Economic Center, Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, Can Tho

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Peter Storer for his editorial help. We also thank the Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) for funding the first author’s Ph.D. study. We particularly thank the three external reviewers and the subject editor for their helpful suggestions and comments which substantially strengthened the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4702, Australia

    Hoang Huu Nguyen, Paul Dargusch & Patrick Moss

  2. The Vietnam Forestry University, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Da Binh Tran

Authors
  1. Hoang Huu Nguyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul Dargusch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Patrick Moss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Da Binh Tran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hoang Huu Nguyen.

Additional information

Editor: Erica Smithwick.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 683 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huu Nguyen, H., Dargusch, P., Moss, P. et al. A review of the drivers of 200 years of wetland degradation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Reg Environ Change 16, 2303–2315 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-016-0941-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-016-0941-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation