Competing for Land, Mangroves and Marine Resources in Coastal Vietnam

This book presents a historical and ethnographic study of changing mangrove management in northern Vietnam over the past 100 years, grounded in a case study in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. The book shows that three primary socio-economic dynamics have affected mangroves: enclosure movements that have restricted access by different user communities over time, such as the exclusion of women; changing valuation of mangroves and their products and services; and social and class differentiation caused by privatization of once common resources. The result of these pressures have been erosions of norms, rules, and collective action to protect and nurture mangroves, leading to widespread loss of coastal forests. Sustainable mangrove management will require attention to these dynamics to address current-day land conflicts. The book will be of interest to policy-makers, practitioners, and academics and students in forest policy, management and governance; rural livelihoods;and globalization and agrarian change.