Climate Change Triggers Displacement Crisis In Vietnam

Vietnam's Mekong Basin is one of the most fertile and agriculturally productive regions of the world. It's been feeding millions of people in Southeast Asia and beyond with rice, fruits and seafood. However, the delta is also one of the most vulnerable to climate change in the world.

According to this Independent article, over the last 10 years, around 1.7 million people have migrated out of its vast expanse of fields, rivers and canals, while only 700,000 have arrived.

Following some farming communities in the area since 2013, the authors had witnessed agricultural yields shrinking and disappearing altogether. The picture has been getting particularly bad since 2015 and 2016, since the worst draught of the century had hit the area.

The article quotes a study by a Vietnamese scholar, who explains why climate change is forcing 24,000 people to leave the region every year.

"The study, by Oanh Le Thi Kim and Truong Le Minh of Van Lang University, suggests that climate change is the dominant factor in the decisions of 14.5 percent of migrants leaving the Mekong Delta. If this figure is correct, climate change is forcing 24,000 people to leave the region every year. And it’s worth pointing out the largest factor in individual decisions to leave the Delta was found to be the desire to escape poverty. As climate change has a growing and complex relationship with poverty, 14.5 percent may even be an underestimate."

Although farmers have been employing traditional methods to boost the yields, these figures are predicted to rise.