With both, National Tree Day and Schools Tree Day falling in the month of July, I thought to myself that it was rather appropriate to pay a visit to the infamous Mekong Delta in Vietnam.  Mekong Delta might not be very well known to the World, but it holds great significance to the entirety of Asia.

Mekong Delta, a vast maze of rivers, swamps, islands, villages, pagodas, lies in Southern Vietnam. It is by far Vietnam's most productive region in agriculture and aquaculture. Life in the Mekong Delta solely revolves around the well located rivers and the ever growing tourist industry.

Eco - Tourists, like me, visit the Mekong Delta, which is a miniscule part of Vietnam, in flocks every year. While several travelers want to document the lifestyle and culture of the Delta, there are many travelers who simply want insight into the regular day of a Vietnamese living in this Delta.

I, however, travelled to Mekong Delta for a completely different cause. Several marine biologists and environmentalists have expressed their concern in regards to the challenges to sustainable development in Mekong Delta. I was very curious about how a simple place like Mekong Delta, which has a very low population in comparison to the rest of Vietnam, could potentially find itself in an environmental crisis in a few years.

To understand more about the issues that the rice farmers are facing, I set out on an ecological journey to the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

Before meeting the rice farmers, I was familiarized with the other sources of income on the Delta. I visited a coconut-candy factory, where all the workers made sweets from scratch- including the wrapper used to cover the candy. I also had a look at a honey farm. I was told that this farm is organic and doesn?t do any kind of harm to the honey bees.

Finally, I met the hard working rice farmers. Interestingly enough, I didn?t meet these farmers on their farms, as I expected. Theses farmers were working two jobs to get through the day. Along with tending to their rice farms, they were rowing small canoes to transport people as well as food reserves to the various villages in the Mekong Delta. As soon as I stepped foot into the canoe, the ?canoe master? launched into a detailed rant about how the ?city people? around the world are selfish and greedy and inconsiderate.

Now, being a student who was born and raised in a luxurious city like Dubai, I was immediately offended. However, hearing what this rice farmer had to say knocked some sense into my delusional brain.

He said that because of our excessive use of fuels and non-renewable resources, global warming is intensifying. The climate change that us, ?city people,? are causing is leading to an increase in sea levels and small deltas such as the Mekong Delta are becoming the worst victims of this rise in sea levels. An ordinary rice farmer explained to us that even though rice is a water-grown crop, excessive water levels can literally drown the plant. This reduces crop yield drastically.

Furthermore, with increased salinity in freshwater, rice crop growth gets inhibited and the rice yield is further reduced. This could mean a reduction of the annual number of rice crops from three to one. That is a fact. He then went on to say that along with his rice farms, he is also losing his home. The effects of sea levels rising are not only bared by the rice crops, but also by the surrounding land of the Mekong Delta. The low lying Mekong Delta could potentially be submerged and all signs of life on this delta could be destroyed.

All this he told us on our canoe trip from one village to another in the Mekong Delta.

Co-environmentalists, why should the innocent rice farmers of Vietnam bear the consequences of our careless actions? Why should they be the ones to lose their homes and their farms, because we are unable to fulfill our duty towards Mother Earth?

Scientists have predicted with calculations, that during the flood season, sea level rise would affect at least 69 percent of the Mekong delta by 2030, and virtually all of it by 2070

Let?s all work together to ensure that the Deltas like Mekong Delta remain intact and healthy as they have always been.