Agency urges mangrove forest conservation
Update: 19/01/2009
The Vietnam Sea and Islands General Department has called for measures to preserve and develop mangrove forests in order to prevent environmental pollution.
Nguyen Chu Hoi, deputy head of the general department, an agency in charge of sea and island management under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said that mangrove forests have been destroyed seriously in Vietnam and that the destruction has widened the area of fallow land, increased saline encroachment and caused seashore and riverbank erosions and environmental pollution.
Hoi blamed the massive development of agricultural production and property projects for the decrease in the mangrove forest area, estimated at 3 percent annually.
He recommended that aquaculture development plans in coastal areas be adjusted, with priorities given to conserving existing mangrove forests, recovering degraded ones and reverting those misused to original state.
While drawing up aquaculture projects in coastal areas, it is necessary to mark out land for developing mangrove forests which will be greenbelts to protect seashores and aquatic product farms once natural disasters occur, he said.
The official pointed to the need to increase public awareness of the value of mangrove forests and sustainable aquaculture development. He added that any mangrove forest development plans should ensure economic efficiency, poverty reduction and environment protection.