Mangrove planting funded as part of wind farm environment pledge

Mainstream is supporting an ambitious climate action initiative in Vietnam by co-sponsoring the afforestation of coastal land near its flagship offshore wind project.

The Green Happiness Program was established in 2018 with a 70-year goal of increasing the country’s tree coverage for a more sustainable future.

And its latest campaign to plant mangroves in Sóc Trăng province is now the focus of a month-long fundraising drive run by the British Embassy in Hanoi in partnership with Mainstream.

Mangrove planting is being seen as a solution to coastal erosion, storm surges and landslides across Southeast Asia

The company’s kick-off contribution made a big inroad on the target to cover the cost of planting 1,000 new trees on a vulnerable coastal mudflat around the town of Vĩnh Châu.

The dense roots of the mangrove make it ideal for preventing soil erosion, building sediment deposits and absorbing storm surges during the typhoon season. Mature trees can also capture up to four times more carbon than traditional rainforest species.

It is hoped that the planting of 44,000 saplings over 10 hectares of land during 2022 will help alleviate the growing threat of landslides on the Mekong Delta – with the afforestation supported by Mainstream set to directly protect more than 7,000 of Vĩnh Châu’s 180,000-strong population.

Chief Operating Officer for the APAC region, Bernard Casey, explained that the company’s support for the Green Happiness Program aligned with the environmental management of its local joint venture, the 1.4 GW Phu Cuong Soc Trang offshore wind farm project.

He said: “In building the first 200 MW phase of our project, we will need to remove some coastal mangroves to install the power export cables from the offshore turbines.

“We have already committed to re-planting equivalent mangrove areas, and through the funding of this initiative we will significantly exceed that coverage target.”

The British Embassy has pledged to fund protection for the mangrove trees as well as community engagement activities as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy, a global sustainability project created by Queen Elizabeth II to encourage people to plant more trees in her Diamond Jubilee year.