Existing financial incentive mechanisms (FIMs) to protect and develop mangrove in Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Ca Mau come from 6 primary sources: central state budget; provincial state budgets; national scheme on Payment for Forest Environmental Services; foreign projects; public-private partnerships; and the private sector. These FIMs have provided funding to incentivise forest owners and provincial government agencies for better mangrove protection and development. Nevertheless, accessing to these funding schemes is difficult for forest owners due to complex procedures, the requirement to have high-counterpart funding, and high initial investment costs to meet access criteria. Due to challenges to access FIMs, these existing incentives are not attractive enough for forest owners to change their behaviour toward better mangrove protection and development.

In Vietnam, mangrove forests have been threatened by economic pressures and climate change. This report aims to analyze both opportunities and constraints for mangrove protection and management in Vietnam.The study found that local people appreciate the role that mangroves play in providing income, an attractive landscape and shelter from climate change related floods and storms. Many communities would be willing to contribute between USD 2-20 per year to a trust fund so as to protect their forests. A large number of policies and projects promote mangrove conservation activities. This has helped strengthen law enforcement, raised local awareness of the role and importance of maintaining forests, and restricted the conversion of mangroves to other economic activities. Government policies and development projects also provide capacity building, training and seedlings for mangrove reforestation activities at the studied sites. Additionally, new incentives such as payment for forest environmental services (PFES) are emerging as a potential source of finance to support mangrove protection and development in the future. Collective action for mangrove protection is widely recognized and promoted among study sites. People have self-organized strikes and protests to oppose converting mangroves to other economic purposes.Many policies and projects offer social and economic incentives for mangrove protection. However, they are impeded by insecure tenure, land grabbing, elite capture, inequitable benefit-sharing, and unclear responsibilities among government agencies at central, provincial and multilateral levels. Access to information on both policies and projects is difficult for local people. The monitoring and evaluation systems, incentives and disincentives designed by policies and projects have low enforcement and compliance. Policies and projects strongly emphasize and create incentives to replant mangrove forests, rather than to maintain and conserve existing mangrove forest areas. Incentives are also designed to compensate local labor costs for replanting mangrove or patrolling activities, rather than addressing the direct drivers of deforestation and degradation.Protecting mangroves requires a policy shift in land-use planning to address the drivers of mangrove deforestation and degradation. These drivers, in turn, respond to national and provincial economic development agendas, which focus on aquaculture expansion and migration. Cross-sectoral coordination also needs to be further enhanced to improve effectiveness in law enforcement. Enhancing local participation in mangrove forest protection and development requires a gender-sensitive approach and enabling conditions, such as well-enforced policies, accountable and transparent benefit-sharing, and inclusive decision making.

"This atlas provides the first truly global assessment of the state of the world's mangroves. Written by the leading expert on mangroves with support from the top international researchers and conservation organizations, this full color atlas contains 60 full-page maps, hundreds of photographs and illustrations and a comprehensive country-by-country assessment of mangroves. Included are the first detailed estimates of changes in mangrove forestcover worldwide and at regional and national levels, an assessment of these changes and a country-by-country examination of biodiversity protection. The book also presents a wealth of global statistics on biodiversity, habitat area, loss and economic value which provide a unique record of mangroves against which future threats and changes can be evaluated. Case-studies, written by regional experts, provide insights into regional mangrove issues, including primary and potential productivity, biodiversity, and information on present and traditional uses and values and sustainable management."--Pub. desc.

Key messagesThis infobrief discusses the status, opportunities and challenges of incorporating blue carbon into the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of 13 Asia-Pacific countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu and Vietnam). While the role of mangroves is fully recognized in all countries' climate-change and environmental policies, only three (Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines) explicitly referred to blue carbon terminology in their policies and established a national agency responsible for the development of a blue carbon strategy.The challenges associated with incorporating and implementing blue carbon into the NDCs of these 13 countries include a lack of data and standard methodology; weak technical capacity; a lack of coordination between government agencies and sectors; overlapping mandates and inconsistent policies; the increasing degradation of coastal wetland ecosystems; as well as funding constraints for developing and implementing policies and practices in programs focusing on the conservation of blue carbon ecosystems.Nevertheless, opportunities exist as stakeholders increase their understanding and awareness of blue carbon's role and importance at an international, national and sub-national level.The factors that can help stakeholders to seize these opportunities and contribute to the restoration of blue ecosystems include more policy and technical guidance for blue carbon management and reporting; further capacity enhancement; and improved coordination and information sharing among the relevant actors.

A global assessment of potential and anticipated impacts of efforts to achieve the SDGs on forests and related socio-economic systems. This title is available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

The book provides an up-to-date account of mangrove forests from Asia, together with restoration techniques, and the management requirements of these ecosystems to ensure their sustainability and conservation. All aspects of mangroves and their conservation are critically re-examined. The book is divided into three sections presenting the distribution and status of mangrove ecosystems in Asia, the challenges they are facing, their issues and opportunities, and the management strategies for their conservation.

We are not free from environmental risks that accompany the development of human societies. Modern economic development has accelerated environmental pollution, caused loss of natural habitats, and modified landscapes. These environmental changes have impacted natural systems: water and heat circulation, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity. These changes in natural systems degrade ecosystem services and subsequently increase environmental risks for humans. Environmental risks, therefore, are not only human health risks by pollution, climatic anomalies and natural disasters, but also degradation of ecosystem services on which most people are relying for their lives. We cannot entirely eliminate the risks, because it is not possible to attain zero impact on the environment, but we need to find a mechanism that minimizes environmental risks for human sustainably. This is the idea of the interdisciplinary framework of “environmental risk management” theory, which advocates harmony between economic development and environmental conservation. Based on this theory, the Sustainable Living with Environmental Risk (SLER) programme, adopted by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) as one of its strategic programmes, has been training graduate students at the Yokohama National University, Japan, from 2009 to 2013 to become future environmental leaders who will take the initiative in reducing the level of environmental risks and in protecting natural resources in the developing nations of Asia and Africa. This book provides students and teachers of this new academic field with a comprehensive coverage of case studies of environmental risks and their practical management technologies not only in Japan but also in developing nations in Asia and Africa.