Large parts of the world’s remaining mangrove forest are lost due to the expansion of shrimp farming in
coastal areas. Current forest allocation and subcontracting policies of the Vietnamese government with
respect to the devolution of forest management and participation of local people in sustainable forest
management reflect both environmental and economic concerns. The paper aims at investigating how
the devolution of rights over forestland and benefit sharing mechanisms are related to actual rights and
the distribution of benefits of forest management practices. The findings show that farmer’s decisionmaking
over mangroves is very much influenced by shrimp farming since the income from mangroves
is very low compared to that from shrimp. Farmer’s decision making over forest is very much influenced
by the way in which the benefit sharing policy is implemented by the state-owned forestry companies
and management boards. However, their attitudes towards mangrove plantation and protection are far
from negative. The study supports the claim that shrimp farmers may well be able to plant, protect and
manage mangroves if they have more rights and responsibilities over forests and are able to benefit more
from the production of mangroves. In this way more sustainable management of mangrove forests may
be promoted.