Abstract
Across Southeast Asia, human activity has caused rapid mangrove system degradation and loss. In Vietnam, a country undergoing economic transition, mangrove systems are vital to the livelihoods of coastal rural communities. This paper studies three mangrove system-dependent communities on Vietnam’s northern coast. Guided by the sustainable livelihood framework, the paper adopts a mixed methods approach. It presents current uses of mangrove system goods and the factors shaping past livelihood responses to mangrove system change, using livelihood trajectory analysis. Findings demonstrate that communities depend on mangrove systems to different degrees for income, subsistence and to respond to change. However, the rapid development of aquaculture is associated with a significantly reduced and degraded mangrove system commons necessary to support the livelihoods of low-income households. Three distinct livelihood trajectories are identified: consolidator groups able to use their access to a wide range of resources, locked into resilient trajectories; accumulator groups able to use their access to limited resources to move from vulnerable to more resilient trajectories; and marginalised groups facing increasingly reduced access to resources locked into vulnerable trajectories. Vietnam faces challenges in reconciling a more market-orientated economy with the maintenance of mangrove system functions and processes that shape the vulnerability and resilience of livelihood trajectories. Policies and projects promoting the sustainable management of mangrove systems should acknowledge the substantial contribution and multiple uses of mangrove systems in livelihoods, particularly of the poor, and the impact of aquaculture on income equality and livelihood diversity that shapes household resilience and vulnerability.
Highlights
Southeast Asian mangrove systems are the most biodiverse in the world (Friess et al 2012), and the goods and services they provide are important components of coastal livelihoods (Van Hue and Scott 2008)
This paper examines the livelihoods of three mangrove resourcedependent communities (MRDC) in northern Vietnam
We find that in the context of rapid social and environmental change across Southeast Asia, intensive large-scale commercial aquaculture is: reducing the resilience of livelihoods through losses in buffering capacity and livelihood diversity in response to disturbance; and increasing vulnerability through reduced access to mangrove system commons and increasing livelihood sensitivity by removing a crucial source of livelihood response
Summary
Southeast Asian mangrove systems are the most biodiverse in the world (Friess et al 2012), and the goods and services they provide are important components of coastal livelihoods (Van Hue and Scott 2008). In Vietnam, political and economic reform has facilitated rapid development and vast areas of mangroves have been converted to large-scale, intensive aquaculture (Tri et al 1998) This trend is alarming in rural areas, where many livelihoods depend on mangrove system commons for collection of fish, crustaceans and other sea life for food and income. Despite growing interest in understanding how human activities are altering ecosystem goods and services, little research has studied how the factors shaping past decisions in response to ecosystem change have shaped the livelihood trajectories of households in mangrove resourcedependent communities (MRDC). To address this gap, this paper examines the livelihoods of three MRDC in northern Vietnam. It provides valuable insights into mangrove system change and the interdependencies of human activity and mangrove goods and services, through empirical analysis in an understudied development context of a rapidly growing transition economy
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