Deltas
Using Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing
Mekong River Delta, Vietnam
Continent: Asia
Location: South West Vietnam
Source: Lasagongma Spring in Mount Guozongmucha in the Tibetan Plauteau
River: The Mekong River
Mouth: Mekong River Delta, South China Sea
Population: About 60 million people live in the Mekong River Delta area
Number of Tributaries: Nine, the river flows through China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Land Use
The land use of the Mekong River Delta is diverse, quickly shifting and strongly contrasting. The contrast being between resources, economic profitability and environmental sustainability. There is additionally a contrast going on between the resources produced from the land, the debate between agriculture and aquaculture (Trung, Tri, van Mensvoort and Bregt).
This aerial image has been taken from Google Earth, while the other two outline maps where acquired from a site called d-maps which have been cropped to show the appropriate area needed.
This image shows the topography of Vietnam and then the specific area of the Mekong River Delta. This image was produced through ArcMap. The two maps were acquired from the ArcGIS website and the data was produced by Esri. The two data layers were overlaid using ArcMap. To view both maps at the same time the transparency tool was used to show boundaries and terrain at the same time. This made it easier to illustrate how the land is low lying which helped to provide a visual aid of what is being discussed.
Climate Change
The Mekong River Delta is Vietnam's main rice growing area. It accounts for half of the annual rice production. Farmers have had to adapt to changing environmental conditions presented by climate change. Through GIS it has been possible to map the topography of the delta. It has shown to be very low lying land which puts it at risk of flooding with change in sea levels. Farmers have had to diversify and modify their production systems and water management schemes (International Rice Research Institute). The use of GIS has been very useful in this instance as its allowed management systems to be devised to hopefully help with problems presented by climate change.
The Mekong Delta is often described as 'Vietnam’s rice bowl', it produces more than a third of the country’s annual food crop from just ten percent of its total land mass. As well as rice, mangrove, coconut palms, fruit orchards and sugar-cane groves also grow in this fertile land. This diverse area provides a wonder of different sights, there are children riding on the backs of water buffalo, rice workers tending their crops, market vendors selling fruit, storks circling overhead, Khmer monks and rowing boats on the delta’s channels. Can Tho, is one of the Mekong delta’s biggest settlements, at this location it is a popular activity to take in the sights, sounds and spend a little money at the floating markets nearby (Rough Guides 2015). As well as this tourist trade which is mainly from travelers a large portion of the delta is used for farming both agriculturally and from aquaculture. Maps from 1989 and 2009 will be used to look at this land use and changes which may have occurred.