As rising seas increase saltwater intrusion and soaring temperatures cause greater evaporation, scientists say that the mounting levels of salt in waters and in soils pose a major climate-related danger and could become a leading cause of climate migration.
Many places are disappearing or transforming before our eyes: Pacific islands succumbing to sea-level rise; the Amazon rainforest withering because of unchecked development; the Gulf of California losing the vaquita porpoise to extinction by poaching.
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.
