Thanh Hoa province, 30 July 2022 – On the last leg of her Viet Nam’s visit, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Kanni Wignaraja joined leaders and people in the central province of Thanh Hoa to plant mangroves as one of the most effective nature-based solutions to enhance coastal community resilience to climate change and their livelihood. 

Ms. Wignaraja commended the province for their unwavering commitment to adapting to the effects of a changing climate through various resilience-building initiatives. 

Since 2017, the Government of Viet Nam, the Green Climate Fund, and UNDP have regenerated and planted more than 337 hectares of mangroves and constructed 1,403 resilient houses for poor, near-poor, and women-headed households. This project, "Improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change-related impacts", has benefited more than 8,000 people in Thanh Hoa province.

Mr. Le Duc Giang, Vice-Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee, expressed his gratitude for UNDP's support in enhancing the resilience and livelihoods of local communities. 

Both the leaders emphasized the shared desire for further cooperation between UNDP and the province to build more resilient houses; regenerate mangrove forests in ways that engage local communities with livelihoods; as well as increase local knowledge in disaster risk management. 

"Mangroves are among the most effective nature-based solutions,” said UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam Caitlin Wiesen, who joined the mangrove plantation. “They are a source of sustainable livelihoods such as aquaculture and beekeeping, while contributing to carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, protect lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure. They create a common benefit, both for reducing global climate change impacts and helping people to improve their livelihoods and income, as well as increasing the forest cover rate in Viet Nam. They help Viet Nam to achieve its climate and development ambitions in a resilient and sustainable way."

To identify safe locations for building resilient homes, the project has also conducted a series of community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) activities, including risk assessments. To date, over 8,000 people (with over 50 percent women) have benefited from these trainings across the province, thus being able to assess the risks posed by disasters and climate change and develop location-specific disaster risk maps and risk reduction plans.