How climate change is triggering a migrant crisis in Vietnam
The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is one of Earth’s most agriculturally productive regions and is of global importance for its exports of rice, shrimp and fruit. The 18 million inhabitants of this low-lying river delta are also some of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change. Over the last 10 years around 1.7 million people have migrated out of its vast expanse of fields, rivers and canals, while only 700,000 have arrived.
On a global level, migration to urban areas remains as high as ever: one person in every 200 moves from rural areas to the city every year.
Against this backdrop it is difficult to attribute migration to individual causes, not least because it can be challenging to find people who have left a region in order to ask why they went, and because every local context is unique.
photo credit: Ryan Buterbaugh