The Impacts of Devolution Policy on Mangrove Forest Management for Aquaculture in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam: Communal Data

This dataset contains communal-level data collected in the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam to analyze the impacts of devolution policies on mangrove forest management, particularly in relation to aquaculture development. It complements the household level dataset (see https://doi.org/10.5878/b981-6c48). The study was designed to investigate how local governance arrangements and institutional changes affect both mangrove conservation and aquaculture outcomes.

Mangrove forests provide vital ecological services and serve as an important source of livelihood for local communities. However, Vietnam’s policy of contracting mangrove forests to households for management has often failed to achieve conservation goals, as farmers tend to convert mangroves to other uses.

The dataset was collected to address the following research objectives:

To examine the impacts of devolution policies and other institutional measures on mangrove forest areas at the commune level.

To assess the impacts of devolution policies, institutional arrangements, and economic factors on mangrove coverage in mixed shrimp–mangrove systems.

Data coverage and content

The dataset covers 5 years (2011–2016) of data from 110 communes. Data were successfully collected for 83 communes across four provinces: Trà Vinh, Bạc Liêu, Kiên Giang, and Cà Mau.

Information includes:

Mangrove forest characteristics at the communal level.

Aquaculture activities, with a focus on shrimp farming within mangrove ecosystems.

Governance and policy implementation, including communal experiences with devolution.

Socioeconomic and ecological outcomes, such as forest coverage, aquaculture productivity, and local livelihoods.

Measurement of mangrove indicators
Mangrove forest indicators were assessed using two approaches:

Self-reported data, provided by Forestry Management at the commune level.

Satellite imagery, used to calculate mangrove coverage independently.

By combining governance, ecological, and socioeconomic data, this dataset provides a communal-level perspective on how devolution policies shape resource management trade-offs between conservation and economic use. It is intended to inform both academic research and policy development on sustainable mangrove–aquaculture systems in Vietnam.