The products and services of mangrove restoration

Summary

The rehabilitation of mangrove forests results in both marketed economic products and in the enhancement of coastal protection services. This latter indirect benefit is important where hazards such as storm surges and floods are an element of social vulnerability to climate risks.

The incidence of extreme events such as storm surges and floods is likely in future to become more unpredictable due to future global climatic change, hence increasing the indirect benefit of coastal protection service of mangroves over time.

The paper examines the rehabilitation of mangrove forests and, in particular, the role of mangrove rehabilitation in providing the dual benefits of improving the livelihood of local resource users as well as enhancing sea defences.

Estimates are presented of the benefits of mangrove restoration undertaken to enhance sea defence systems in three coastal districts of northern Vietnam. These show that, assuming sustainable management, mangrove rehabilitation can be desirable from an economic perspective based solely on the direct use benefits by local communities. Such activities have even higher benefit cost ratios with the inclusion of the indirect benefits resulting from the avoided maintenance cost for the sea dike system which the mangrove stands protect from coastal storm surges.

While further research needs to be undertaken to evaluate the full costs and benefits of mangrove rehabilitation, this analysis suggests that this approach may prove an important component of a sustainable management strategy for coastal mangroves in Vietnam and in other similar regions.

Keywords: mangroves; economic valuation; cost benefit analysis; climate change; Vietnam.

Reference: Adger, W. N., Kelly, P.M. and Nguyen Hoang Tri (1997) The products and services of mangrove restoration. Commonwealth Forestry Review, 76(3), 198-202.