Thursday July 9, 2026
Nanyang Technological University —
Scientists from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NIE, NTU Singapore), have found that sand mining is a far greater driver of environmental degradation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta than previously understood Using a first-of-its-kind computer modelling approach, the researchers showed that sand extraction is responsible for approximately 25 to 30 per cent of total riverbed erosion and 16 to 30 per cent of salinity increases observed across the delta.
Published in Science Advances, the study is the first to use a counterfactual modelling approach to isolate the impacts of sand mining from other environmental pressures such as upstream dams, sea-level rise, land subsidence and climate change. Unlike earlier studies that relied on hypothetical extraction scenarios, the researchers incorporated real-world sand mining data from 131 active mining zones across the Mekong Delta. By combining these observations with a counterfactual modelling framework, they were able to compare present-day conditions against a virtual scenario in which no sand extraction occurred, providing an unprecedented assessment of sand mining’s environmental impacts.
The Vietnamese Mekong Delta, home to millions of people and one of Southeast Asia’s most important food-producing regions, is one of the world’s most intensively mined river systems. The researchers found that annual sand extraction exceeds the river’s natural sediment replenishment by six to fifteen times. This imbalance is driving widespread riverbed erosion, altering river flows, reducing sediment transport and enabling saltwater to penetrate further inland.