Support for MARD’s Restoration and Sustainable Management of Coastal Forests in the Mekong Delta Project

General

The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in cooperation with Asian Development Bank (ADB), is developing a program to support coastal mangrove restoration in the Mekong Delta. The key objective of the program is to mitigate and prevent coastal erosion in the Mekong Delta and to respond to the climate change impacts in the region. One of the effective measures that were identified is mangrove restoration including sustainable management of coastal mangroves.The ambition of this assignment is to provide technical advice MARD, with the goal providing answers to current knowledge gaps and bring the project proposal an important step closer to implementation. By supporting this project, the government of The Netherlands aims to stimulate to uptake of nature based solutions combined with sustainable livelihood models in the Mekong Delta. The ultimate goal is to improve water security and water safety in the area. For this purpose, international and local expertise on mangrove development and aquasilviculture is required to advise on specific approaches to harmonize the engineering and livelihood aspects of the project on five locations specified by MARD MBFP.This assignment builds on earlier conclusions drawn about implementation of mangrove restoration during the validation mission in 2022. MARD specifically requested expertise to fill knowledge gaps in the areas of (1) dealing with land subsidence and (2) sustainable livelihood models. For this purpose, a team of consultants will be tasked with performing field work in five locations specified by and under the guidance of MARD MBFD. This assignment will include some data collection on the specific circumstances in these locations, and synthesising this data to identify both technically feasible strategies for mangrove development in these areas, and mechanisms and incentives to support long-term mangrove development, transform to mangrove-based livelihood models, and adapt to climate change. Finally, thesestrategies need to be reviewed in light of the economic development planning of these areas, such as land use planning, coastal forestry planning and the Mekong Delta Integrated Regional Plan.