Restoration of degraded terrestrial coastal forests

From April 2018 to December 2025, the project "Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in the North Central Coast of Vietnam: Restoration and Co-management of Degraded Dunes and Mangroves" received funding through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Government of Germany.

It was the first significant effort to restore large areas of degraded coastal protection forests on dunes and sandy areas. The team of Unique and IREN of Huế University — later HUSTA, the Huế Union of Science and Technology Association — successfully developed the EbA model, grounded in extensive local and scientific knowledge about this vulnerable, highly diverse ecosystem.

The North Central Coast is among Vietnam's regions most exposed to climate change. Storms, coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion, and shifting sand threaten the livelihoods of communities that depend on the coastal zone, while decades of degradation have weakened the natural barriers that once buffered these pressures. Healthy dune systems and mangrove forests reduce storm and flood impacts, stabilise the coastline, and underpin local fisheries and agriculture.

With funding support from the IKI, the project-team applied an Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) approach, successfully restoring degraded dunes and mangroves and establishing co-management arrangements that give local communities a defined role in protecting and sustainably using these ecosystems. By linking ecological restoration with local stewardship, the project aimed to strengthen both the resilience of coastal ecosystems and the adaptive capacity of the people who rely on them.

Over its nearly eight-year duration, the project worked across 3 Provinces to restore 500 hectares of mangroves and dunes, thereby developing a scalable proof of concept which is now being taken up by different domestic and international entities.