The southernmost province of Ca Mau has set to fortify its coastal protective forests against probable erosions and landslides triggered by climate change. According to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Van Suu, an annual 2,000 hectares of protective forests will be developed along the province’s coastline from 2014 to 2020. The target will bring the locality’s total coastal forest coverage to 32,000 hectares, mainly grown with mam (Avicennia), mangrove (Rhizophora apiculata) and vet (Bruguiera gymnorrhiza), with Mam alone covering 25,000 hectares. The forest coverage in Ca Mau has reduced considerably since the 1990s due to local people’s acts of cutting down woods for shrimp farming. The local authorities are attempting to mobilise all possible resources to make up for the destroyed areas. With some 20,000 hectares of protective forest, Ngoc Hien district is leading in planting new forests and protection efforts. This is attributed to the district’s good planning on shrimp farming areas, which requires local breeders to make their benefits and forest protection go well together, explained Nguyen Truong Giang, Chairman of the district People’s Committee. Vietnam is one of the five countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change while the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam’s rice granary, is among the three large deltas in the world worst hit by it. (Vietnamplus.vn June 24)
