Ecosystems of Vietnam's coastline in peril

By Grant McCool

NHA TRANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - It was the destruction of coral reef and over-fishing that moved artist Nguyen Lieu to paint brightly coloured canvasses warning Vietnamese that their coastal environment is in peril.

"Nha Trang is the most beautiful bay recognized worldwide but exploitation there is chaotic," Lieu, 53, said at Galerie DEWI, where 15 of his oil paintings were exhibited in June and July.

His home town on the south-central coast has smooth sandy beaches, islands and mountains, but it also carries the burden of the ugly side of rapid development and fast-growing tourism.

It is a story being repeated up and down the impoverished country's 3,200 km (2,000 mile)-long coastline, despite awareness among officialdom and non-governmental groups to harmonize conservation and making a living from the sea.

Oil slicks, dead rivers and polluted air are part of an often-bleak environmental picture as Vietnam's 85 million people head toward industrialization.

Lieu's art is unusual in communist-run Vietnam in that it displays a consciousness about a contemporary global issue. Seen through his eyes, there is a dire need to preserve and protect coral reefs and marine life for future generations.

For good reason, environmentalists say. Research shows Vietnam is a "biodiversity hotspot" with ecosystems under threat. Less than 25 percent of coral reefs surveyed have living coral and 75 percent are at high or very high risk, eight times the southeast Asian average.

MOTHER PROCTECTOR