Mangrove forest can be compared with coastal green walls, preventing dramatic wave, protecting mainland, mitigating extreme impacts caused by climate change. Growing mangrove forest is the solution selected by many international organizations to help Vietnam in the fight to climate change.
“It can not loss such important ecosystem”,Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO said that in her speech about the role of mangrove forest on mankind. She emphasized that this is an invaluable, perfect and rich ecosystem in the boundary between sea and mainland. It can ensure food security for local community, provide biomass, forest products and maintain fishery industry, and at the same time protect coastal line and mitigate negative impacts of climate change as well as extreme weather phenomena.
It seems that not any non-structural solution can prevent dramatic wave better than mangrove forest does. It is compared to the wall to protect mainland, villages, and also be a habitat for sea ecological community and provide livelihood for millions Vietnamese.
Vietnam nowadays has more than 285,000 hectares of mangrove forest stretching over nearly 3200 km, of which the protective forest accounts for 68% and forest used for special-purposes and production accounts for 32%. This is the remaining part after being lost of 60%in 70 years. Therefore, the Government of Vietnam determines to multiply this special kind of forest, especially in the context of climate change.
To support Vietnam, international organizations such as World Bank (WB), Japan, United States, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), United Nation Development Program (UNDP), etc. have been paying their efforts to expand this coastal green forest.
Particularly, Coastal Wetlands Protection and Development Project sponsored by WB has grown about 4,662 hectares of mangrove forest and 1,214 hectares of other trees in the southern provinces of the Mekong Delta. The Forest Preservation Program (FPP) sponsored by the Government of Japan has also grown cajuput forest in U Minh Ha district (Ca Mau province). The Vietnam Forests and Deltas Program (VFD) sponsored by USAID which has been implemented in four provinces: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Long An and Nam Dinh in five years (2013-2017) with its total cost of about 27 million USD. The last program is being considered to bring about positive results.
At the same time, another program, “Integrated Coastal Management Program” (ICMP) has been being implemented in the Mekong Delta in the 2011-2017 period. It is carried out by Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with co-financed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia (DFAT). According to this program, 99% coastal dykelength of Bac Lieu and Soc Trang provinces will not be no longer directly impacted by wave; more than 600 hectares of mangrove forest will be grown; more than 22 new livelihood models will be developed for 8,500 households. It is expected to mitigate stress on environment and increase income by 60% for local community.
Especially, from the moment becoming a member of Mangroves for the Future Initiative (MFF) - a regional initiative based on partnership cooperation with the co-chair by IUCN and UNIDO, Vietnam has received great supports to protect its mangrove forest.
Thus, it can be seen that international supports has been helping Vietnam in implementation of its target: Additional 100,000 hectares will be grown this decade, in order to restore the same area of this forest in the past.
At the same time receiving assistants from international, Vietnam is also giving a lot of efforts in this issue, for example, the national forest development and growing program in the last decades; the 327 program has the target of greening empty soil and bare hills nationwide; the 5 million hectares of forest program. These programs cost the national budget of about 237 million USD.
However, it is recorded that in many places, mangrove forest is still lost by limited awareness of local people while forest-based economic benefits can not be compared with other economic activities in the short-term. This raises a question that how to harmonize between natural and environmental preservation and economic development.
A principal solution for this issue, according to suggestion of scientists, is helping local residents to appreciate the important role of mangrove forest in their living in the long-term. So that they can benefit from forest to have a sustainable livelihood. At that time, the local residents will pay their best efforts to grow and protect mangrove forest for their life and for the future generation.
Thanh Binh