At the workshop the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) shared recent findings of study on sediment in Mekong River, Prof. Jean-Paul Bravard representing the study team of WWF said that practical measures and actions must be taken to conserve sand deposit, maintain the natural streamflow with a view to maintaining future life of countries in Mekong River basin.
In fact, sand plays a significant role in Mekong River. It is not only an important mineral resource but also affects in streamflow and trapping of alluvial in Mekong delta shoreline. However, uncontrollable sand mining in recent years have posed detrimental impacts on the ecosystem of Mekong basin.
According to WWF’s studies on the role of sand in Mekong sediment and monitoring of fine -grained sediment and nutrient fluxes transporting from Mekong River to sea estuary, there is 50 billion tons of sand extracted every year and sand accounts for 90 percent of currently extracted Mekong sediment load.
The location of sand extraction has changed to the upstream because the downstream such as Vietnam has exhausted sand load.
Sand extraction in the Mekong River has created sand pit affecting transportation and delta shoreline of the downstream areas. In addition, the recent road and levee elevation result from sand mining.
The workshop jointly organized by WWF and Department of Water Resources Management is to give warning of the current massive sand mining in the Mekong River.
Đăng ký: VietNam News