BÌNH ĐẠI, Vietnam — For centuries, the Mekong River emptied into the South China Sea through nine vast estuaries, earning it the name Cửu Long, Vietnamese for “Nine Dragons.” In the 1960s, natural deposition of sand swallowed the first dragon, the Bassac River. Now, human-made infrastructure is choking the second, the Ba Lai River. More than two decades after a sluice gate began operating near the mouth of the Ba Lai River in southern Vietnam, the river has turned into a stagnant lake, trapping pollutants and accelerating coastal erosion. Intended to protect the region from salinity, the megastructure has created problems and triggered conflicts between local farmers and authorities, sparking semi-open resistance that further destabilizes this already climate-vulnerable area. On a cloudy day in September, Nguyên, a shrimp farmer in Bình Đại commune in Vĩnh Long province, calculates when he should harvest his shrimp as he prepares to feed his two ponds. During the rainy season, water pollution is his primary concern, and a miscalculation can wipe out his entire stock. “This month, the sluice discharges water on the eighth, ninth, 21st, and 22nd, so I will harvest my shrimp on the fifth or sixth,” says Nguyên, which is not his real name. He asks to use a pseudonym due to the sensitive nature of the issue. “Fruit farmers in the freshwater zone use tons of pesticides and herbicides,” Nguyên tells Mongabay. “The chemicals linger on the ground. When it rains, the runoff flows into canals and the river, heavily contaminating…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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