Changing sediment budget of the Mekong: Cumulative threats and management strategies for a large river basin

The Science of the Total Environment
G Mathias KondolfThomas Wild

Abstract

Two decades after the construction of the first major dam, the Mekong basin and its six riparian countries have seen rapid economic growth and development of the river system. Hydropower dams, aggregate mines, flood-control dykes, and groundwater-irrigated agriculture have all provided short-term economic benefits throughout the basin. However, it is becoming evident that anthropic changes are significantly affecting the natural functioning of the river and its floodplains. We now ask if these changes are risking major adverse impacts for the 70 million people living in the Mekong Basin. Many livelihoods in the basin depend on ecosystem services that will be strongly impacted by alterations of the sediment transport processes that drive river and delta morpho-dynamics, which underpin a sustainable future for the Mekong basin and Delta. Drawing upon ongoing and recently published research, we provide an overview of key drivers of change (hydropower development, sand mining, dyking and water infrastructures, climate change, and accelerated subsidence from pumping) for the Mekong's sediment budget, and their likely individual and cumulative impacts on the river system. Our results quantify the degree to which the Mekong delta, whi...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 10, 2019·Nature·G GrillC Zarfl
Aug 30, 2019·Nature Communications·P S J MinderhoudE Stouthamer
Nov 11, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Nguyen Van Khanh TrietHeiko Apel
Oct 9, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Gianbattista BussiAndrew Nicholas
May 26, 2021·Nature Communications·Marta ZanioloAndrea Castelletti
Sep 4, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·R J P SchmittAndrea Castelletti

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