Vietnam · Cần Giờ · See the Vietnam profile
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Since 1978, Ho Chi Minh City has replanted roughly 20,000 ha of mangroves defoliated by US wartime herbicide spraying, earning Vietnam's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (2000) — but shrimp ponds and an approved 2,870-ha development plan now threaten the recovered forest.
Between 1965 and 1969, U.S. Air Force herbicide spraying destroyed an estimated 57% of the Cần Giờ mangroves southeast of what is now Ho Chi Minh City, leaving only about 5,600 hectares of usable forest by the late 1970s.
After Ho Chi Minh City took over management in 1978, authorities replanted roughly 20,000 hectares of Rhizophora apiculata sourced from the Mekong Delta between 1978 and 1991, when the forest's designation shifted from wood production to coastal protection. The 75,740-hectare reserve (a 4,721 ha strictly protected core, a 41,139 ha buffer zone and a 29,880 ha transition zone) was recognised in 2000 as Vietnam's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and now shows natural regeneration with non-planted species colonising the site.
Local and state media describe the reserve as a major carbon sink and a storm-surge and erosion buffer for the metropolis, and it has become a significant tourism draw: Cần Giờ recorded roughly 4.4 million visitors and an estimated VND 3.5 trillion (about US$137 million) in tourism revenue in 2024, up 23% year-on-year, alongside a district target of "net zero" by 2035 and a pending Ramsar wetland nomination.
Independent environmental reporting (Mongabay, 2020) documents ongoing threats to the same forest: satellite imagery shows shrimp ponds carved directly into mangrove stands, cargo-ship pollution and erosion, and — most significantly — an approved master-plan by Japan's Nikken Sekkei for a 2,870-hectare coastal development including a seaport logistics hub and tourism infrastructure, envisioning a resident population of 600,000 versus roughly 71,000 today. This is a long-run restoration success measured in decades that remains actively contested by competing development approvals within the same governance system that protects it.
Read the full analysis: https://vietnamnews.vn/environment/1695251/efforts-undertaken-to-revive-develop-can-gio-island-mangrove-forest.html
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Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
Jamaica
A World Bank/PROFOR study found Jamaica's mangroves prevent an estimated US$32.7m/year in flood damage; NEPA, UWI and partners have restored …
China
China's first Verra- and CCB Gold-certified blue carbon project restored 380 hectares of mangroves in Zhanjiang (2015–2019), expected to offset …
Kiribati
Community volunteers under the World Bank/GEF-funded Kiribati Adaptation Program planted over 37,000 mangrove seedlings across six atolls; two Tarawa sites …
Guyana
Guyana has restored over 500 hectares of coastal mangroves as a lower-cost alternative to concrete sea defences, which cost the …
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