With 17 million inhabitants, the Mekong Delta is one of the world's most densely populated regions. It is also one of Vietnam's most productive agricultural areas. However, the delta is increasingly challenged by the effects of climate change.
A consortium contracted to devise a 100-year flood management plan for Vietnam’s Mekong Delta will deliver its first set of recommendations to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in March. The plan will be a road map for design, planning and dedicated funding, like the one devised by the Dutch Delta Commission for the Netherlands in the year's following 2005's shocking devastation of the U.S. Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina.