Mangrove Communities and Disaster Risk Reduction: Cases in Vietnam: Cases in Vietnam

Mangrove forest belts have very important role on reducing the impacts of natural disasters in the coastal areas. However, in the last three decades, under the pressures of increasing population and man-made disasters, there are many losses and degradation of mangrove forest belts in Vietnam. As a result, the seashore erosion and human damage are expected to increase due to climate related extreme weather, e.g., tropical storms, high sea waves and strong whirlwind. In order to build the natural disaster resilience and adaptive capacity for coastal communities, mangrove wetland ecosystems development is considered as a long term cost-effective strategy for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation in Vietnam. This paper reviews and evaluates the mangrove reforestation approach, implementation and management in Vietnam as a case study.