Ca Mau tightens management of coastal preventive forests

The province aims to plant 200-300 hectares of new forests this year towards the goal of putting 1,500 hectares under forest during five years from now to 2020.

Strict measures will be taken to curb and prevent illegal logging and fishing in preventive forests. 

The province will also relocate some 1,000 residents who are living in preventive forests while promoting communication to encourage the community to join aquaculture cooperatives in close link with forest development. 

Currently, Ca Mau has 35,000 hectares of preventive forests stretching along its 252 km long coastline, with 25,000ha in Ngoc Hien district. 

However, the province loses around 100ha of coastal forest each year due to erosion. The loss of forest again leads to further erosion of land. 

In addition, the forest coverage in Ca Mau has also reduced considerably since the 1990s due to local people’s cutting down woods for shrimp farming. 

Vietnam is one of the five countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change and its Mekong Delta region, Vietnam’s rice granary, is among the three hardest hit deltas in the world.