Mekong Delta Handbook

The Mekong Delta is the lowest section of the gigantic Mekong River. In a strictly geographical sense, the delta landscape already begins in Cambodia, but in international perception, Mekong Delta refers primarily to the actual estuary of the river, which drains into the sea on Vietnam¿s territory via nine main branches and a labyrinth of natural and artificial waterways. Hence its Vietnamese name Sông C¿u Long (Nine Dragon River). The Mekong is one of the last largely unregulated and relatively unpolluted major rivers on the Asian mainland. Its value for the ecological diversity of the entire Southeast Asian region is inestimable and therefore all the more threatened by water pollution and gigantic dam projects. The Mekong Delta is, contrary to a perception often prevalent, a human-made environment. It was created in a process of conflict and cooperation between the peoples of the region that lasted at least three centuries. But the Mekong Delta is also threatened from another side, from the sea. The level of the world¿s oceans is already rising due to global warming. We try to give an overview of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta from different scientific perspectives and for a broader audience. The book is an outcome of the very fruitful cooperation between Justus Liebig University Gießen, Germany, and An Giang University in Long Xuyen, member of the National University of Vietnam, VNU, Ho Chi Minh City.