The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is concerned about a potential migrant crisis in Vietnam. Sea levels are rising steadily in the Mekong Delta at the southern tip of the peninsula. The area covered by water has always varied by season. However, climate change is now threatening a migrant crisis among the eighteen million inhabitants.
How Serious is the Situation Threatening the Migrant Crisis
The average elevation is zero feet above median sea level. This makes even a 0.11 inch-a-year sea level rise a potential tragedy. Furthermore, the annual rainfall has increased in the southern climate zones, while decreasing in the northern ones.
The Conversation website reports this could lead to more than a migrant crisis unfolding. This is because the Vietnamese Mekong Delta is one of Earth’s most agriculturally productive regions. It is of global importance for its exports of rice, shrimp, and fruit. During the past ten years 1.7 million people have already fled, with just 700,000 people taking their place.
But is This Climate Change, Or a Drift to the Cities?
Migration from rural areas to cities is a global phenomenon. However there must be more to it than that, given the Mekong Delta’s net migration is double the national average. Moreover the trend is highest in the most climate vulnerable areas.
A severe 2013 drought allowed salt water to contaminate large areas of sugarcane cultivation. This destroyed all the plants in one commune. Three years later an even more severe event allowed salt water to penetrate 50 miles inland.
Vietnamese academics wrote a largely overlooked paper suggesting climate change is the dominant factor in 14% of migrations from the Mekong Delta. This equates to 24,000 people being forced out of their homes annually, in a steadily increasing migrant crisis the world hardly notices.
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Preview Image: Rice Paddy in Mekong Delta