"Cambodia's Funan Techo canal could upset Mekong Delta ecosystem: experts" 24 April 2024

Construction of the Funan Techo Canal from the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand will cause water shortages and increase salinization in Vietnam's already parched Mekong Delta, experts said.

The delta is already suffering legions of dead crops and families without water due to droughts, hot weather, severe erosion of useable farmland, drying out of seafood resources... It is Vietnam's most important agricultural region, on par with similar growing and cultivation areas in its neighboring countries...

Le Anh Tuan, a Senior Lecturer at the College of Environment and Natural Resources...said the formation of the Funan Techo Canal will definitely have a negative impact on the region..."When the Funan Techo Canal is operational, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam will experience an increase in the shortage of fresh water for daily life, agriculture, production, aside from deeper and more frequent saltwater intrusion, and the ecosystems will be disrupted," Tuan said...

The shortage of fresh water in the Mekong Delta will affect dozens of climate change adaptation projects and poverty alleviation projects that have been and are being implemented...

he information about the project that Cambodia provided to the MRC in the announcement on Aug. 8 last year is still very limited, and did not enough to fully assess the increasing impact on water, sediment, erosion, and salt intrusion...