Inseda Blue
Water harvesting, water conservation and aqua culture
Mangrove forests are highly productive coastal eco- systems that support many species of plants, invertebrates, fish, and birds. Mangroves are found along the coasts of numerous tropical countries but only represent 0.7% of total tropical forested areas worldwide. Owing to their unique position in the landscape and characteristic mix of biological communities, mangrove ecosystems offer a multitude of goods and services to the local biota and human population.
Dr. Raymond Myles, Dr. Samson Myles
Ahsok Zutshi, Sanjiv Nathan, Jaswant Singh
Water harvesting, conservation and storing, Aquaculture Promotion, Sanitation
These benefits include shoreline stabilization, storm protection, habitat and biodiversity protection, flood and flow control, sediment and nutrient retention, recreation, tourism, fishing, and forestry products. Despite the socio-economic and ecological importance of mangrove forests, these ecosystems continue to decline or be degraded due to anthropogenic impacts, natural causes, or the additive effects of both. Future anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems and mangroves will only increase as human populations in coastal regions are steadily increasing. Mangrove forests are also threatened by climate change impacts, especially increased rates of sea level rise and reduction in availability of fresh water due to reduced flows in rivers that sustain mangroves. A relatively recent recognition of mangrove eco systems’ capacity to sequester and store large amount of carbon (C) for considerable periods of time has drawn attention to their potential role in climate change mitigation and adaptation responses. A conservative estimate suggested that mangroves store up to 2.5 times global annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) . Therefore, protection of mangrove forests against deforestation and degradation could be considered an important strategy to help prevent losses of coastal blue C into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gas emissions. India has the second-largest mangrove forested area (3400 km2) in South Asia, after Bangladesh. However, India has experienced the greatest mangrove losses (~580 km2) between the years 2000 to 2012 to deforestation due to agriculture, aquaculture, embankments and coastal development, and diversion of freshwater away from the estuaries. While efforts have recently been made to restore and conserve mangrove forests in this region, it is not entirely clear how restored/planted mangroves might differ from relatively intact and pristine mangroves with regards to C storage function.