Mangroves are a vital and threatened ecosystem globally, and in Viet Nam, the Mekong Delta is home to 75% of the countries mangroves. Mangroves loss is driven by sediment supply reduction, sea level rise (SLR), and other human interventions such as the building of sea dikes, shrimp farming and groundwater pumping that leads to subsidence.
Soc Trang and Bac Lieu are the provinces that are suffering the fastest shoreline mangrove loss with greatest consequences to communities and enterprises. Here, mangroves are being squeezed between dirt dikes on one side and rising sea level on the other, a phenomenon known as the coastal squeeze. Any new mangroves planted outside the sea dike are quickly eroded away by the combination of declining sediment supply, SLR and subsidence. Restoration of these highly vulnerable mangroves requires an ecological solution that supporting local economies.
The project works to expand the area of mangroves inside the sea dike through a hybrid nature-based solution (NbS) that combines:
- mangrove restoration (through natural and assisted regeneration)
- conversion of shrimps production from large, open-air ponds to hyper-intensive Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS).
The RAS produces 20-times more shrimp per unit with lower disease risk. The conversion will eliminate or greatly reduce the need to pump groundwater to dilute pond water, thereby reducing land subsidence which at 2.5 cm/year is 5 times greater than global SLR.
Research into the impact of the RAS system and its institution for communities in the Mekong Delta, particularly Bac Lieu and Soc Trang, could increase mangrove cover by 4,000 hectares, making it by far the largest mangrove restoration opportunity in Viet Nam.
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This grant would not be possible without the support of The Coca-Cola Foundation.