VietNamNet
Bridge – Coastal forest in the Mekong
Delta is being narrowed while the sea is infiltrating deeply into the mainland.
Coastal forest retreats
In
mid-May, 2012, correspondents followed a group of experts of the Center for
Preservation and Development of Water Resources to make a survey of mangrove
forest and sea dikes in the Mekong Delta.
They
visited Cu Lao Dung district, in Soc Trang province. This is the largest and
the last islet of the Hau River. The islet fronts the East Sea in one side.
Mr.
Tran Kim Chuong, head of the Natural Resources and Environment Department of Cu
Lao Dung, said that the district’s An Thanh Nam commune is expanded by 50
hectares yearly towards the sea while An Thanh 1 commune loses 1,000 to
2,000sq.m of land per year because the sea encroachment.
An
Thanh Nam is expanded to the sea because it has maintained 1,200 hectares of
coastal preventive forest. Local people said that thousands of bats have
appeared in the local forest. This is a good sign, showing environmental
improvement.
Meanwhile,
in Bac Lieu province, the preventive forest has narrowed by nearly 10 percent
in the last three years, to 4,600 hectares. With 56km of coast, this area of
protective forest is not enough to prevent the sea from encroaching into the
mainland.
Nha Mat
ward in Bac Lieu province was a preventive forest in the past. Today, this area
has become a crowded residential area. Mr. Nguyen Kim Huynh, 49, in Nha Mat
ward, pointed to a concrete dike and said that this sea die was broken several
times by powerful waves.
Huynh
said that in the season of northeast wind, sea waves are several meters high
and the dike could not stand these waves. Since the coastal forest was
destroyed, the sea has had less fish, the man said, adding that he could earn
several USD a day from catching fish.
Dr.
Duong Van Ni, lecturer of the Environment and Natural Resources of the Can Tho
University, said that in this situation, preventive forest outside sea dikes
will gradually disappear.
Ni
explained that coastal forest is a closed ecological system, which can move
forward and backward. The construction of concrete dikes has broken the living
vessel and the way to move backward of forest.
The sea
encroaches upon the mainland
Several
decades ago, Ganh Hao was a wild area, covered by jungle. Nowadays, the forest
has nearly disappeared.
Mr.
Nguyen Van Be, from Ganh Hoa town, Bac Lieu province, who has lived here since
the 70s, said that his home was removed several times because of landslides.
“The entire hamlet 1 at the Ganh Hao estuary disappeared totally because of
landslides. Landslides have become serious since 1997.”
After a
fierce landslide, a concrete dike was built along the Ganh Hao River, which is
called the shield to protect the town. Mr. Be said at present, the dike can
defend his house but he was not sure about the future.
Be’s
house is near the dike and he said that during the northeast wind season, waves
were 1-2m higher than the dike.
In late
2011, the sea water rose high in Bac Lieu, which was said to be an abnormal
phenomenon, and flooded the Ganh Hao fishing port, isolating hundreds of
families.
According
to the Bac Lieu Hydrometeorology Center, the highest flood tide measured at
Ganh Hao estuary
Perhaps
the time that people encroaching into the sea has ended. Dr. Le Anh Tuan from
the Institute for Climate Change Research of the Can Tho University said that
research works showed that the sea will continue rising in the future.
Impacts
from climate change on the Mekong Delta are anticipated to be huge and they
will be fiercer if hydro-power plants are built on the main stream of the
Mekong River.
Upgrading
sea dikes is considered an urgent task in the Mekong Delta to confront the rise
of sea levels. In addition, planting preventive forest along the coast is very
important, experts said.
Phuong
Lan
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