Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta is home to some of the country’s richest fishing grounds, but they are under growing threat from climate change and overfishing. On October 21, USAID, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Directorate of Fisheries of the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development launched the Mekong Delta Coastal Habitat Conservation project, which was announced during U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit to Vietnam in August. With a planned budget of up to $2.9 million provided by USAID, this three-year project aims to protect key coastal habitats in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam to increase the sustainability of fisheries, enhance climate change adaptation, and improve biodiversity conservation. The launch event was widely covered in Vietnamese media, with stories published in some 20 outlets.
By working to mitigate threats to coastal biodiversity and fisheries, including illegal harvesting, USAID is enhancing coastal resilience and conserving biodiversity in the face of climate change.
