The Mekong Delta floodplain comprises all the low-lying wetlands from the Cambodian town of Kratie south to the river's nine mouths in southernmost Vietnam, including the Tonle Sap Basin. Over 145,000 km2 altogether, the area had a population in 2010 of more than 30 million persons, with roughly two-thirds in Vietnam and one-third in Cambodia (Mekong River Commission 2011). The Mekong Delta is extraordinarily productive and hydrologically complex. In many areas a highly engineered system of dikes, canals, and sluices manage the flow and distribution of water. However, the delta faces severe and mutually exacerbating challenges that, taken together, amount to a slowly unfolding environmental disaster that will have enormous impacts on the way delta dwellers have lived for centuries. These changes cannot be avoided; however, bold policies can enable sensible adaptation.
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