2. Methods
2.1. Study site
The study site was located on the coast near Vam Ray village,
Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. It is part of the Kien Giang Biosphere
Reserve which was founded in 2006 to balance economic development
and environmental protection and is supported by
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
(Nguyen et al., 2013). The area is characterised by a semi-diurnal
tide regime (Hong, 1993). Although the area receives relatively
low wave energy, it is typified by high rates of erosion (GIZ, 2011a).
The site lies between the coordinates 10.201407 N, 104.79828 E
and 10.195875 N, 104.805039 E (Fig. 1).
The selected site contains areas of old-growth forest as well as
areas undergoing rehabilitation. Old-growth forestswere defined as
remnant vegetation which was not completely removed by erosion
before the rehabilitation commenced. At the site, two rehabilitation
techniques were implemented. One of these techniques involved
erecting a simple fence made from a single row of wooden poles
20 cm in diameter at the seaward edge of the sites in order to reduce
wave energy. This technique will be referred to as the ‘basic’ technique.
The second technique, used by the KGBRP, involved a more
elaborate fence consisting of two rows of wooden poles with th