Launching submerged forest plantation in Mekong Delta region

The Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Ca Mau provincial People’s Committee co-organised a ceremony to launch a submerged forest plantation campaign in the Mekong Delta provinces.

At the event
At the event

As part of activities to respond to the movement of mangrove planting and coastal protection nationwide, the ceremony took place in Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province, on July 20, featuring the participation of representatives of some ministries, leaders of People's Committees of some Mekong Delta provinces, a number of international organisations and many local people and students turned out in coastal communes in Tran Van Thoi district.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep, emphasized that over the past years, with complicated and extreme incidents related to natural disasters, climate change, sea levels rising, coastal areas of Vietnam are strongly affected by the sea. Statistics show that Vietnam lose about 300 hectares of coastal land every year, greatly affecting people's livelihoods and the economies of regions across the country.

The Deputy Minister said that the launching ceremony is one of the activities to continue the implementation of the Resolution 76 and Resolution 120 of the Government with synchronous, creative solutions, associated with real life to protecting coastal areas in the Mekong Delta in particular and in the country in general. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for cadres and people of coastal provinces in the Mekong Delta region and all people to raise awareness in protecting mangrove forests and coastal areas; understand the benefits and values brought by mangrove forests. The plan is that people from there can actively participate in planting, protecting, developing mangrove forests, protecting coastal areas, protecting biodiversity and coastal ecosystems by practical and effective actions.

At the launching ceremony, Tim McGrath, Director of GIZ affirmed the importance of combining mangrove rehabilitation measures and coast protection measures to provide a comprehensive and effective solution for coastal protection. This is also a priority area of GIZ, aiming to contribute to the protection and development of mangrove forests to reduce natural disaster risks, as well as to ensure the safety of people, he added.

After the ceremony, delegates participated in planting mangrove forests in the mudflats area behind Da Bac embankment area, at Kinh Hon hamlet, Khanh Binh Tay commune, Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province.