VietNamNet Bridge - The protective forests in Tien Giang and Ben Tre provinces in Mekong River Delta have been called a ‘fragile shield’ because they cannot protect the coastal land strip from sand and wind.

In many areas, protective forests have been disappearing, leading to serious landslide and erosion, posing threats to dyke and the lives of thousands of local households.

A report showed that there are 700 hectares of protective forests in Tien Giang province, mostly in Go Cong district. However, soil erosion has washed away the forests hundreds of meters inland.

In some areas, there is no more protective forest and the sea water now can reach out to the dyke. According to the local authorities, the trees cannot exist because of the landslide and the attack of sea waves.

A local man said he was worried about the fate of the residential quarters and agriculture production. If no proper solution is found, even the sea dyke will be put in danger because the sea water level has risen above expectations. In many places, the dyke has broken.

In the districts of Ba Tri, Thanh Phu and Binh Dai of Ben Tre province, protective forests still exist, but they are getting thinner every day. The protective shield bears the tasks of slowing down the flow, dispersing tide, preventing waves and salinity, keeping sediment and helping develop the coastal ecosystem. But it is getting worse. 

According to Nguyen Quang Kiet, director of the Ben Tre provincial Protective Forest Management Board, there are about 65 kilometers in length of the coastline and 1,500 hectares of protective forests. Landslide and strong waves which occur often have been threatening the forests in 10 places.

Local people have been trying to protect the forests with sand bags and broken tree branches to prevent waves and ease the negative impacts on the remaining forests. More recently, the afforestation in coastal areas has been accelerated so as to offset the destroyed forests.

The farmers living in coastal areas are the biggest sufferers from the protective forest loss because forests have been serving as their livelihood for many years. 

“Thousands hectares of forests have disappeared. This will make the negative impacts from the climate change even more serious,” a local woman said.

“Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces are the areas to suffer most from climate change because of the geographical positions,” she explained.

A sea dyke system 15 kilometers in length is powerful enough to act as the belt protecting 50,000 hectares of agriculture land and give livelihood to tens of thousands of households. Therefore, if coastal forests continue losing, the threats will be unimaginable. 

Dai Doan Ket