The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang is striving to conserve coastal protection forests that have been seriously eroded by sea encroachment triggered by climate change.

Coastal protection forests in Tien Giang province have been seriously eroded in recent years

Since 2006, nearly 450ha of protection forests bordering Go Cong sea off the coast of Tien Giang have been eroded. Notably, forests near many important dyke sections in Tan Dien commune of Go Cong Dong district have completely disappeared.

Facing that fact, Tien Giang has made efforts to mitigate climate change’s impacts, recover protection forests and protect dykes to serve more than 37,000ha of farmland and residents near Go Cong sea.

In areas that have completely lost protection forests, the province is building embankments with a total length of more than 6.4km along local dykes. It is also constructing 1.42km of soft rock embankments to support sediment deposition to create space for afforestation in Tan Dien commune.

With aid from central agencies, local authorities are also upgrading the Go Cong sea dyke system to cope with climate change at a total cost of 887 billion VND (38.6 million USD).

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, climate change and human impacts on the flow of the Mekong River will make river bank and coastal erosion an increasingly complex issue.

The province plans to work harder to manage the existing protection forests and monitor erosion to take timely actions. It will continue reinforcing sea dykes, build facilities mitigating wave impact and supporting deposition, and increase communications to raise public awareness of this issue.-VNA