Project title

Advocating for Nature-based Solutions to Address the Coastal Squeeze in Mekong Delta 

Location

Mekong Delta, Vietnam 

Duration

November 2021 – October 2024 

Project Background

Mekong Delta is home to 50% of Viet Nam’s mangroves, however, sea level rise (SLR) is leading to a coastal squeeze, resulting in the loss of mangroves, fisheries habitat, and biodiversity. The complex phenomenon of the coastal squeeze, highlighted in the 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere, is poorly understood. Coastal planners believe that mangrove reforestation with concrete wave breakers will protect the shorelines, but this is high-cost approach. 

Effective adaptation will require a new approach to coastal planning along the delta’s coastlines that are under private ownership. This includes integrated land use planning and an expanded set of solutions that include hybrid nature-based solutions (NBS) within context of the private land use. The 2019 Planning Law established the legal basis for integrated land use planning, but it has not yet been operationalized. As a founding member of the Mekong Delta Working Group (MDWG), IUCN has discussed the coastal squeeze with other members of the Mekong Delta Working Group (MDWG). While they understand the problem analysis and proposed solution, they have not provided funding to test hybrid-NBS, primarily because historically they have focused on mangrove replanting outside the sea dike, not inside the sea dike as this project will do as a part of an extended solution set that goes beyond the shoreline mangroves. Provincial governments have been reluctant to test hybrid-NBS because of deep-rooted “protect at all costs” mentality, and a poor understanding of the coastal squeeze. 

This project aims at increasing mangrove cover along 200 km of the lowest and most vulnerable coastlines of the delta. This requires the application of system thinking that adopts a holistic approach to coastal planning and investment. Key to success is forming a group of Vietnamese champions that will interface with government decision-makers. IUCN’s role is to provide resources and a platform for the champions to engage government over a 3-year period. IUCN will commission the champions to carry out joint studies of the coastal squeeze and hybrid-NBS so that new knowledge is internalized. Champions will engage their own institutions and the media to move these issues into the public domain.  

Objectives

Increase mangroves cover along the lowest and most vulnerable coastline of the Delta by working with the government and business to allow mangroves, currently trapped between RSL on one side and the sea dikes on the other, to retreat inland to offset the coastal squeeze.  

Components

The project has 3 components 

1. Generating knowledge for evidence-based policy advocacy on coastal squeeze; 
2. Building capacity and knowledge for government, businesses and communities to implement hybrid NBS as technically, financially and politically viable solution to coastal squeeze; and 
3. Engaging government, business, civil society and development partners in policy advocacy on hybrid NBS. 

Expected Outputs

• Coastal provinces and communities have increased technical knowledge about the coastal squeeze and the financial and institutional tools that are required to address it; 

• Coastal provincial administrations know how to incorporate hybrid NBS into Coastal Protection Corridors; 
• Coastal communities will have technical and financing knowledge of hybrid NBS using RAS technology.

Expected Outcomes 

• Hybrid-NBS included in provincial land use plans and plans for future dyke realignment in place.
• Funding for hybrid-NBS included in new World Bank loan for climate change adaptation in Mekong Delta.
• Government programs include plans to invest in mangrove expansion behind the sea dike and the NDC contains realistic mangrove cover projections.  

Donor

• UBS Optimus Foundation 

Partners

• World Bank 
• Netherlands Embassy 
• AFD
• World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) 
• Provincial governments, especially Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARDs) 
• Local community organizations such as the Farmers Unions and Women’s Union 
• State research institutes: SIWRR, SIWRP, RIA, Sub-FIPI 

Contact

Dr. Andrew Wyatt – Deputy Head of IUCN Indo-Burma, IUCN Viet Nam Country Office 

E-mail: andrew.WYATT@iucn.org