Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has instructed giving priority toresearch on land erosion and counter measures in a recent document.

The document said land erosion along rivers and the coast inthe Mekong Delta region is worsening, with over 450 kilometres of riverbanks in the region already affected. In addition, an average 500hectares of mangrove forest in the region are damaged every year.

Tocope with the situation, localities have carried out a number ofsolutions, mostly building dykes, which are costly while failing toprevent erosion in certain areas, the instruction said, adding thatthose measures also lag behind the international trend of using moreenvironmentally-friendly solutions that give room to the river to floodand erode.

The Deputy PM requested the Ministries of Agricultureand Rural Development, and Science and Technology give priority incapital allocation to research in this field, focusing on proposingsuitable solutions to prevent coastal erosion, restore coastalprotection forest and environmentally-friendly measures to address riverbank erosion.

The Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment is to coordinate with relevant bodies to instruct theimplementation of the Prime Minister-approved project on protecting anddeveloping coastal forests to cope with climate change through 2020.

Recent scientific research indicates 38 percent of the land in theMekong Delta will be underwater by 2100 due to climate change.

Mangroveforest destruction has led to drastic salinity intrusion in the region,which seriously affects local life and production.-VNA