MANGROVES ARE IN DANGER ZONE

In general, mangroves are plants and shrubs (mangrove swamp and mangrove forest) that grow in saline coastal areas in the tropics and subtropics. The plants and shrubs are diverse, but all are able to adapt themselves physiologically to the existing local conditions such as saline water and fine sediments with high organic content. Once established, intricate root system of the mangrove plants provide a habitat for oysters and help to impede water flow, thereby enhancing the deposition of sediment in the areas.

In Asia, mangroves occur on the south coast of Asia, throughout the Indian subcontinent, in all the southeast Asian countries, and on islands in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and South China Sea. The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world, located in the Ganges delta in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. The plants are capable of absorbing a lot of energy from the powerful sea waves. Every one of us is aware that the towns in southern India which had good mangroves covers were not affected by the tsunami that devastated the eastern coastline during the year 2004.

In a typical Indian coastal state like Maharashtra (Mumbai is part of the state), it is reported that there are about 6000 hectares of mangroves spread across the state’s coast line. Following satellite mapping, about 2000 hectares (1 hectare = 10,000 square metres) of mangroves are notified as Protected Forests. Mumbai alone has more than 1500 hectares under mangroves. The Bombay High Court has put a ban on destroying mangroves for development purposes.

Various governmental agencies are aggressively trying to get exemption from the earlier stay granted by the High Court’s order not to destroy the mangroves. However, the environmentalists and public are worried that finally these exempted areas will be swallowed by the builder’s lobby for construction of exclusive towers facing the sea, and the protection provided by the mangroves against floods and tsunamis will not be available. The fate of about 4000 hectares is being decided by the Bombay High Court.

The threats of natural disasters are increasing due to global warming. In areas of the world where mangroves have been removed for development purposes, the disturbance of the underlying sediments often creates problems of trace metal contamination of seawater and extensive erosion of the land mass. That only means that the very mangroves which we are trying to destroy for development are required to save the proposed infrastructure and the buildings to be built on the land from floods and tsunamis! Let us all join hands to preserve the life-saving mangroves from extinction.