MEKONG DELTA, VIET NAM – Home to approximately 18 million people (GSO, 2024), the Mekong Delta covers nearly four million hectares and serves as a vital economic and ecological hub for the region. However, rapid urban expansion poses significant risks to the delta’s stability. The construction sector consumes around 55 million cubic meters of sand annually, leading to large-scale riverbed extraction that causes severe erosion and riverbank collapse, threatening both nature and local communities.
With financial support from the International Climate Initiative (IKI), WWF, government, and other partners successfully developed the first-ever sand budget for the Mekong Delta through the Drifting Sands project, quantifying the dynamic sediment balance for the Tiền and Hậu Rivers as of 2022 and establishing strategic projections through 2030 and 2040. The sand budget provides an early warning for the construction sector in Southern Viet Nam. Current data indicate that if extraction continues at the present pace, the delta’s mobile sand reserves will be completely depleted within 10 years.
Three comprehensive studies identifying approximately 18 sustainable alternative materials conducted under the project are aimed at supporting the transition to a more sustainable construction sector. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results demonstrate that utilising secondary fine aggregates offers significant environmental advantages. These alternatives can replace river sand at rates ranging from 15% to 100% in applications such as concrete, mortar, bricks, and road sub-base layers, as the following immediate and future-oriented solutions:
- Short-term solution:Manufactured Sand (M-sand) was identified as the most promising immediate option.
- Long-term solution:Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) represent a vital future resource.
However, the study’s results highlight critical barriers to adoption, including a lack of technical standards, insufficient cost guidance, and the need for improved incentive frameworks (such as taxation) to foster market maturity.
Since the launch of the Mekong Delta Sand Budget in 2023, project results have been widely disseminated through targeted stakeholder engagement. WWF has organised a series of webinars, dialogues, and technical workshops, reaching over 400 participants from the private sector, government, NGOs, and academia. Additionally, the project has built capacity among more than 250 young professionals, including civil engineers and architects, natural resources, etc., focusing on the technical viability of alternative aggregates.
WWF partnered with the Viet Nam Green Building Council (VGBC) to drive the shift from a linear to a circular economy. Supported by the project, VGBC trained more than 50 representatives from leading companies in Southern Viet Nam on circular construction. A WWF staff also joined the VGBC’s Technical Advisory Committee to support the integration of recycling and responsible sand sourcing into the latest LOTUS green building rating scheme.
Looking beyond the Drifting Sands project, WWF continues to collaborate with partners such as Euro Cham, SIKA, FICO, VIBM, and VGBC to maintain momentum. The collective aim is to strengthen sectoral capacity and mobilise resources to align with Vietnam’s Building Materials Strategy for 2021-2030 and the industry’s pathway toward Net Zero carbon by 2050.
Acronyms
- FICO:JSC Fico Tay Ninh Cement
- SIKA:Sika Limited Viet Nam
- VIBM:Vietnam Institute of Building Materials
GSO: General Statistics Office of Viet Nam
For more information about the project, please refer to the following link: Drifting Sands: Mitigating the impacts of climate change in the Mekong Delta by engaging the private and public sectors in the sand industry | Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI)
