In the southern province of Kien Giang, the German Technical Agency (GTZ) has shown farmers how to select and grow saline-tolerant seedlings, particularly mangroves - and how to protect new plantings with barriers of poles.

Local people in southern Kien Giang Province’s Binh Son Commune plant mangroves. Advanced afforestation techniques have been used to buffer coastal areas from the onslaught of the sea.

According to Sharon Brown, chief GTZ advisor on the project to preserve and develop the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve, experiments had shown that cultivating seedlings in dried bottle gourds could help plants adapt to the more saline conditions.

Luong Thanh Hai, director of Kien Giang Department of Science and Technology, said the province once carried out several projects to plant seaside trees using traditional methods, but none worked.

He said this was because the coastal area had a dense layer of alluvial soil. When seed was directly sown into this layer, the young trees would eventually be swept away by wave action.

If successful, the new techniques will be good news not only for Kien Giang but also other provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, where so many coastal trees have been destroyed by land erosion and the rise in sea levels.

Vietnamese GTZ expert Nguyen Tan Phong said farmers could now get more involved in planting mangrove forests.

So far, people from 14 families have taken part in the programme in Vam Ray Hamlet, Binh Son Commune, which has experienced severe land slips.

Participant Tong Van Anh said: "I have successfully cultivated more than 20,000 tree seedlings, many of them mangroves, over 1,000 sq.m, I hope the new techniques will protect our orchards. The vegetation that used to protect our fruit trees has been destroyed by the change in sea flows."

Director Hai said the Government planned to plant protective forests along most sea dykes. This would provide more work opportunities for local people.