Minderhoud et al. (2020). Groundwater extraction may drown mega-delta: projections of extraction-induced subsidence and elevation of the Mekong delta for the 21th century. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab5e21

The projections in this paper reveal the large gain in preserving future elevation achieved by successful implementation of mitigation to reduce groundwater extraction. On the other hand, when groundwater extraction is allowed to continue grow at a moderate rate of 2% per year, the future situation looks much more worrying. 

The new paper is the latest story building on a line of earlier publications of the Rise and Fall project on land subsidence in the Mekong delta:

• Minderhoud et al. (2019). Mekong delta much lower than previously assumed in sea-level rise impact assessments. Nature Communications, 10(1), 3847. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11602-1
• Minderhoud et al. (2018). The relation between land use and subsidence in the Vietnamese Mekong delta. Science of The Total Environment, 634, 715–726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.372
• Zoccarato et al. (2018). The role of sedimentation and natural compaction in a prograding delta: insights from the mega Mekong delta, Vietnam. Scientific Reports, 8(11437). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29734-7
• Minderhoud et al. (2017). Impacts of 25 years of groundwater extraction on subsidence in the Mekong delta, Vietnam. Environmental Research Letters, 12(6), 64006. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7146

See also this other Rise and Fall publications on groundwater governance and salinization in the Mekong delta:

• Hamer et al., (2020). The rationality of groundwater governance in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta’s coastal zone. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2019.1618247
• Eslami et al. (2019). Tidal amplification and salt intrusion in the Mekong Delta driven by anthropogenic sediment starvation. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55018-9
• Ha et al., (2018). Governance conditions for adaptive freshwater management in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.12.024

All papers are open-access and freely downloadable.