The Can Gio mangrove forest grew out of a comparatively recent brackish swamp with soil foundations created by the Saigon and Dong Nai Rivers. The development of the mangrove forest is dependent on high precipitation and a high density of rivers interweaving the area, which provide a rich and plentiful supply of alluvium in the estuarine regions. The soil formed in Can Gio has been created by a combination of clay alluvial depositions, vitriolic processes and a brackish water table.

Can Gio encompasses diverse habitats including mangroves, wetlands, salt marshes, mud flats and sea grasses. The ecosystem functions as the ‘green lungs’ of Ho Chi Minh City absorbing carbon dioxide and other polluting agents on a daily basis.

The mangroves contain a high diversity of floral and faunal species. These include mangrove species such as Rhizophora apiculate, Thespesia populnea and Acanthus ebracteatus. A high number of faunal species appear in the biosphere reserve including king cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah), saltwater crocodile (Crocodilus porosus), spot-billed pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) and fishing cat (Felis viverrina).

There are no communities living in the core area and buffer zone with the exception of forest protectors and their households, forestry staff and a few fishermen who operate traditional shrimp-trappers in some canals within the mangrove forest. A permanent population of almost 70,000 inhabitants lives in the transition zone of the biosphere reserve. These include groups of non-indigenous local people, the majority of whom are Vietnamese. Minorities located in the reserve include Chinese and Khmer communities living together in concentrated communes and towns in the transition zone.

The main economic activities are agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, salt-pan, trading and tourism. Revolutionary forces made active use of the region during the wars against France and the United States of America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.