NEW DELHI

Indian government needs to allocate more funds to manage the country’s mangrove resources and prioritize participatory mangrove management, according to a top Indian scientist who is widely known for his contribution to mangrove ecology.

Coinciding with the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem observed on Tuesday, Kathiresan Kandasamy told Anadolu Agency that despite several pressures, mangrove cover in India has increased.

Mangroves -- hardy trees and shrubs that grow in the salty, wet, muddy soils of Earth's tropical and subtropical coastlines -- protect the coastlines from erosion and storm damage besides providing habitats for commercially important marine species.

The Indian government earlier released the “India State of Forest Report 2021,” which said the total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 square kilometers (1,927 square miles), and an increase of 17 square kilometers (6.56 square miles) in mangrove cover was observed compared with the previous assessment of 2019. The top three states showing an increase were Odisha followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Kandasamy said there was a total increase of 71 square kilometers (27.4 square miles) in the last four years in India.

"Mangrove forest cover increased by 54 square kilometers during 2017-19 and by 17 square kilometers during 2019-21...Mangrove conservation efforts had been initiated in 1986 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The government has identified 38 mangrove areas around the country and supported the implementation of a management action plan in those areas. Hence, there has been no loss of mangrove forest cover in India in the last two decades," he said.

In 2020, a NASA study said about 2% of the global mangrove area was lost between 2000 and 2016. It also showed that "conservation efforts are increasing in effectiveness on a local scale and there’s an increase in awareness of the importance of mangroves."

Kandasamy said mangroves face both natural and man-made threats.

"Despite increasing pressures, the mangrove cover in India increases as against the loss of global mangrove cover. However, India has a large tract of sparse mangrove stand with a cover density of less than 40%," he said.

He also said that mangroves mitigate climate change through their potential for the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

"Mangroves store five times more carbon than terrestrial forests. However, the sea level rise (SRL) may affect the mangroves only if the rate of SLR exceeds 6 millimeters per year (which may happen after the year 2050) -- but it is now only 3-4 millimeters per year -- and if there is no intertidal space for mangrove migration," said Kandasamy, a former director at the Faculty of Marine Science at South India-based Annamalai University.

The intertidal zone is the area where the ocean meets the land between high and low tides.

Kandasamy said the role of federal and state governments in the conservation and management of mangroves is appreciable.

"To improve mangrove cover in India, much more funds should be provided for better management of mangroves. Also, participatory mangrove management needs to be given top priority. Under participatory mangrove management, I mean to say involving the local community, government, and private sector. It is also necessary to rehabilitate the sparse mangrove stand to become dense mangrove forest," he said.

Number of steps

According to India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the government has taken steps to protect "sustain, conserve and augment forests in the country through promotional as well as regulatory measures."

In February this year, the government told parliament that the World Wide Fund for Nature - India, a non-governmental organization, has launched an awareness campaign on mangrove conservation in nine states.

"About 180 volunteers have committed their time to be educated on mangrove conservation and to inspiring more community members to do the same. Volunteers are equipped with a curated toolkit of presentations, videos, and storybooks," the government said in a written reply.