Hanoi(VNA) – Vietnam is one of the five countries hardest hit by climate change, withits coastal region being the most vulnerable area. Community-based managementand development of mangrove forests is an effective way to strengthen coastalresilience against climate change.

Vietnam has favourableconditions for mangrove forests to grow and develop.

Twenty nine cities andprovinces nationwide have coastal mangrove forests and wetland. They include fivecoastal localities in the Red River Delta, namely Hai Phong city and theprovinces of Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh, 14 centralprovinces from Thanh Hoa to Binh Thuan, and 10 others in the southern region,namely Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, TraVinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang.

However, the area andquality of this kind of forest are declining. The total area of mangrove forestsin Vietnam is about 200,000 hectares, down 60 percent compared to 70 years ago.

According to NguyenQuoc Dung, an official from the Forestry Inventory and Planning Institute,there are several reasons behind the decline of mangrove forests. They includethe changing use of forest land for aquaculture, the overexploitation of woodand natural resources as well as environmental pollution and climate change.

Dung also mentionedthe lack of mangrove forest management and cooperation, limited mangrove-relatedregulations and coastal erosion.

Other reasons include unsustainablelivelihood of local people, the shortage of appropriate silvicultural solutionsor suitable plant species to be grown. Meanwhile, science research also lacks enoughattention.

At present, forestprotection is facing difficulties due to the lack of synchronous technicalsolutions, inter-ministerial collaboration and sustainable financial mechanismsfor the management and restoration of mangrove forests. More importantly, theactivity has not yet mobilised community involvement.

In the central provinceof Thanh Hoa, thanks to the strengthened role of the community in forestgrowing and protection, the area of submerged forests has increased remarkably.Since 2007, with the support of CARE Vietnam, the model of community-based multipurposemangrove forest planting has been developed in Nga Thuy commune of Nga Sondistrict and Da Loc commune in Hau Loc district.

Nguyen Van Dinh, ViceChairman of the Da Loc communal People’s Committee said the commune had 200hectares of submerged forests prior to 2007.

Thanks to the supportof domestic and international organisations, it has planted an additional 300 hectares,raising the total area of mangrove forests here to 500 hectares, Dinh said,adding that the locality plans to grow 200 hectares more from now to 2020.

Living in the coastal region,Vu Duc Thuan in Thanh Hoa province’s Hau Loc district understands the value of submergedforests to his livelihood. He has raised a total of 500 ducks with feed sourcedfrom the forests, which has helped double his income.

“Thanks to themangrove forest, I can save the money I would spend on food for the ducks,”Thuan said, adding that the ducks can eat snails found in the forest and producegood quality eggs.

The mangrove forest inthe locality also helps protect the coastal ecosystem and benefits localpeople. When harvest is over, the locals can earn 50-100,000 VND a day fromcatching crabs or fish in the mangrove forest.

Nguyen Quoc Dung saidto support the local people, the State has issued policies to encourage thecommunity to join hands to protect mangrove forests by giving them the rightsto manage, protect and benefit from the forests. “This is an effective way torestore and develop mangrove forests in our country in a sustainable manner,”he added.

However, the policies are still part of the general forestry guidelines. Thereshould be separate policies and mechanisms for mangrove forests. Added to this,local people and authorities should be educated to raise the awareness of protectingand developing mangrove forests.-VNA