Assess the expansion of saline soil in context of sea level rise

from 2011 to 2021.The case study of Nga Nam town, Soc Trang province

Student: Do Kim Thoa

Master Program in Climate Change and Development, Vietnam Japan University
Student ID: 22117024

December, 2022
1. Research Introduction

1. What do you use your land for?

2. What would happen if your soil were salinized?

 1. Introduction
The status of soil salinization
Salinization has been caused by the misuse of land, urbanization, uncontrolled irrigation and rapid industrialization
(Okur & Orcen, 2020)

More than 20% of the cultivated land on Earth degraded by soil salinization (Wu et al., 2018).

It is projected to reach ~50% by 2050 (Bartels & Sunkar, 2005; Wang et al., 2019).

Soil salinization affects approximately 10% of the world’s food production (Machado & Serralheiro, 2017).

It is particularly high in many coastal countries and increase in the future due to climate change (Das et al.,
2020).

In context of climate change and sea level rise, it is necessary to conduct research on soil salinization
and propose solutions to adapt to the issue
1. Introduction
Mekong Delta
• Its location brought the region negative and positive
sides
• The lack of water from the upper Mekong Delta and sea
level rise exacerbates its saline intrusion (SIWRR, 2019)
• The average altitude of the Mekong Delta is very low,
about 0.8 m above sea level (Minderhoud et al., 2019)
Study area
• Rice production faces many risks due to saltwater
intrusion (Hoang et al., 2021)
• Previous research focused on mitigating and adaptive
solutions to reduce the impact of saline intrusion in Nga
Nam town
• No soil salinity mapping in Nga Nam town has been Fig 1.The map of Nga Nam district
created before.
2. Objectives
Objectives

The status of Assess the expansion of saline

salinization
soil due to sea level rise

My question:
Has soil salinization
in Nga Nam Town Assess the impact of the
The issue in
Nga Nam town expanded in the last expansion of saline soil on
decade and agricultural production
continue to
increase?

Sea level rise Provide recommendations to

scenarios
adapt to the soil salinization
3. Materials and Methodologies
Methodology Material Description
GIS and remote • Base-map • Construct soil salinity mapping in Nga
sensing • Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS Nam town from 2011 to 2021
provided by USGS • Steps: Image processing 
• Salinity intrusion Determination of soil salinity 
database Accuracy assessment  Soil salinity
map
Social surveys Questionnaire and In-
• Assess impact of land salinity on
depth interviews
agricultural production and local lives;
the difficulties local people face;
solutions
• Estimated 380 surveys, 30 in-depth
interviews
 2. Expected Results

• Soil salinity mapping in Nga Nam town from 2011 to 2021

• Data collected from surveys and depth interview shows the impact of the expansion

of saline soil on agricultural production

• Solutions and recommendations to adapt to the expansion of saline soil

 Research schedule

Time period
Activities
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
Literature review and Research Introduction              
Methodology 1 (Data collection and Processing,
Model Development)              
Methodology 2 (Questionaire Design)              
Write Research Methodologies              
Field trip 1 (questionnaires and in-depth interviews +
accuracy assessment for Method 1)              
Data analysis (Method 1+2)              
Field trip 2 (back up)              
Write Results and Discussions and finalize report              
 Conclusion

• Soil salinization is one of the most challenging events in the world

• Global warming and sea level rise are proven to contribute to exacerbating soil

salinization in countries, especially coastal areas.

• The research will assess the expansion of saline soil due to sea level rise and its

impact on agricultural production in Nga Nam town. After that, providing

recommendations to adapt to the expansion of saline soil in the study area.

• The research results is expected to contribute to the target of developing early

warning systems for climate change adaptation at COP27.