VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam had more than 408,500ha of mangrove forests in 1943. By 2006, this area was cut in half. The country needs up to VND 2.49 trillion ($146.4 million) to recover and develop mangrove forests.

Can Gio mangrove forest

“According to the UN, Vietnam and Bangladesh would suffer the most serious influence from the sea level rising if not for our mangrove forest ecological system, which is greatly valuable for economic development and environmental protection, and is currently being destroyed,” said Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang Nghia, Dean of the Institute for Forestry Sciences.

Speaking at a recent workshop on mangrove forests in HCM City, Nghia said facts shows that the places where mangrove forests are well-protected, their sea dikes can stand firm, even though the dikes are built by soil. Meanwhile, many stone- and concrete-made dikes, in places where do not have mangrove forests or damaged mangrove forests, were broken.

Surveys from countries prone to tsunamis revealed that mangrove forests can help reduce the devastation of tsunamis by 50-90% so villages hidden behind mangrove forests are not as seriously hit.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has a coast of 3,200km but the area of mangrove forests is moderate. More worriedly, mangrove forests are decreasing in both area and quality.

According to statistics by the Vietnam Institute for Forestry Sciences, of 65,963ha of mangroforest grown to protect sea dikes, up to 32,870ha are degraded and fail to fulfill their preventive function. As a result, landslides along the coast and river banks, as well as dike breaking, are getting serious.

Prof., Dr. Do Dinh Sam, from the Vietnam Institute for Forestry Sciences, said mangrove forests are being narrowed by aquaculture activities. As fishermen do not realize the value of mangrove forests, they destroy the forests to breed fish.

The Government has assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to perform a project to recover and develop coastal mangrove forests from 2008 to 2015. According to the Ministry’s scheme, it needs VND 2.49 trillion ($146.4 million) for this project.

In the first phase, the ministry plans to grow 97,500ha of mangrove forest, raising the total area to over 307,800ha by 2015.

(Source: NLD)