Vietnam Insider

Every year, the southern region loses 300 hectares of land because of subsidence and landslides. The Mekong Delta, for example, is sinking faster than predicted.

The landslides in the Delta have been described as ‘extremely serious’. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang reported that there are 49 landslide spots with total length of 266 kilometers. In some places, the sea has entered 80 meters into the mainland.

The eastern and western parts of Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces suffer most from erosion. More seriously, the sedimentation in river systems has been lower than erosion since 2000.

According to the Mekong River Committee, the volume of sediment in Mekong Delta will decrease by 67 percent by 2020. The countries on the upper course of Mekong have built so many hydropower plants and water reservoirs (two large reservoirs built by China alone have capacity of 22 billion cubic meters). Silt is retained at the reservoirs and cannot reach Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

The committee has drawn up a scenario that by 2040 if all hydropower projects arise on Mekong mainstream, the volume of silt that can reach Vietnam will fall to 3 percent.

Scientists have warned about the disintegration of Mekong Delta. In the past, it was consolidated by 145 million tons of sediment. But now, it receives only 40 million tons, and sediment has been taken away by hydropower plants.

The overexploitation of sand is also a danger to Mekong Delta. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that of 40 million tons of silt and sludge, Cambodia exploits 30 million, and Vietnam 10 million tons.

In July 2013, the Norwegian Institute of Geotechnics found that the Mekong Delta subsided 19 – 28 mm per annum, caused by the soft ground and excessive underground water exploitation. If combined with rising sea levels, the Mekong Delta region is likely to sink faster than expected.

In 2016, Vietnam released a prediction that about 35 percent of Mekong Delta’s area may be inundated under water by 2100. However, with the current subsidence rate of 1.5-2 cm per annum and rising sea water levels, the scenario may come sooner than expected.

MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam needs to adjust its development policy to fit the new conditions. In the past, rice production was the top priority, while seafood and fruit were in the second and third positions. But in current conditions, seafood must be the top priority, and rice the third.

Source: VNN

Dozens of people living near Nam Son Rubbish Dump in Hanoi’s outlying district of Soc Son have gathered to prevent rubbish dumping.
Nguyen Huu Tien, general director of Hanoi Urban Environment Company (URENCO), said local people started the prevention from the early morning of January 11, blocking hundreds of rubbish trucks from entering the dump.

The blockade has led to rubbish being piled up in the city.

Dong Phuoc An, deputy director of Hanoi Department of Construction, said that it is the sluggish compensation payments for site clearance for the people living near the dump whose land was taken led to the protest.

On Monday, Nguyen The Hung, vice chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee spoke to the affected people.

Earlier, residents living near Nam Son dump, the largest in Hanoi, also blocked rubbish trucks from entering the site as they have been threatened by the serious pollution from the dump.

Nam Son dump, covering 83.5ha, was established in 1999. It receives more than 4,000 tonnes of waste every day.

Bac Son, Nam Son and Hong Ky communes nearby are suffering from severe air and water pollution.

Source: Dtinews

A student in Ho Chi Minh City was declared on Friday winner of Tiffany Vietnam 2018, the first ever transgender beauty pageant in the Southeast Asian country.

The Tiffany Vietnam, which follows a reality show’s format, held its finale night at the Cultural and Sporting Center of Tan Binh District in Ho Chi Minh City last night, according to news site VnExpress.

With sweet charm, an elegant shape and self-confident spirit when performing onstage, Do Nhat Ha, 23, a student at Hoa Sen University defeated 17 other contestants to win the highest title of the competition after eight episodes of the show. Ha was crowned by chairman of Miss International Queen.

In the presentation session for the top five finalists during the finale, Ha suggested transgender people be seen equally in terms of role and position in society.

With this victory, Ha also became the 2019 Miss International Queen Vietnam and will thus represent the Vietnamese transgender community to attend the Miss International Queen in Thailand – a global-scale transgender beauty pageant – this March.

Speaking at the crowning ceremony, Ha said that singer Huong Giang, the Vietnamese winner of the 2018 Miss International Queen in Thailand, was her motivation to sign up for Tiffany Vietnam.

“Maybe I cannot do what Giang did, but I want to prove that transgender people can do many good things to society,” Ha said after the competition.

“Besides, I want my parents to be more open and proud of their child,” she added.

Ha hoped that families, mothers and fathers who have children of LGBT community would also have a better view on the issue.

Do Nhat Ha’s birth name is Do Nhat Tan. Ha had raised long hairs and injected female hormones before going to Thailand to have sex reassignment surgery to return to her true self when she was 20.

Beside the feminine appearance, Ha is also good at English and Korean.

Huong Giang managed to purchase the copyright of Miss International Queen, which has been held annually in Thailand since 2004, to bring the contest to Vietnam, in search of a Vietnamese representative to the 2019 Miss International Queen.

However, for many reasons, the contest was eventually held in the form of a reality TV show for online broadcast only, according to VnExpress.