Mangroves that pay their way: Ca Mau farmers learn to farm with the forest

In Vietnam's Ca Mau Province, at the Mekong Delta's tip, shrimp farmers usually face a choice between mangrove forest and income. An IUCN project running from 2023 to 2027 is teaching a third way: integrated mangrove–aquaculture, where farms keep their tree cover and raise seafood beneath it. About 30 participants — local officials, technical experts and farming households from Vinh Hau and Dong Hai communes — joined a training workshop and study visit in September, seeing working farms in Tan An Commune and taking the lessons home. The project, funded by Hyundai Motor Company and Good Neighbors International, is designed to scale across the delta: mangroves that protect the coast from storms while the farms beneath them earn.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program