When Cyclone Amphan hit Bakkhali in Bengal’s Sundarbans area in May 2020, it left a trail of destruction reminiscent of the 1999 Super Cyclone that killed thousands in Odisha. Experts rued that Amphan’s devastation could have been restricted had it not been for the rampant deforestation, human activity, which includes tourism and finishing, and alterations in land use lowered the overall health and the extent of the Sundarbans mangrove cover.
Sundarbans is home to the world’s biggest mangrove cover — a prolific ecosystem amongst the land and the sea/ocean. Coastal communities all more than the world rely on these ecosystems for their wellbeing, protection, and meals safety. They are breeding grounds for numerous estuarine and marine organisms as nicely. But their most significant contribution towards these coastal communities is to act as a all-natural barrier against tsunamis, storm surges, a increasing sea, and erosion.
As climate modify tightens its grip, storms such as Amphan will turn out to be more frequent and deadly. As the Sundarbans, and in truth mangroves across the world, continue to shrink, the situation of coastal and close to-coastal communities will only get worse.
Mangroves have turn out to be extremely susceptible to industrial locations along coasts and pollution triggered by domestic and industrial sewage. According to UNESCO, mangroves are disappearing at a price that is 3 to 5 occasions more quickly than all round losses of international forest cover in the face of infrastructure development, urbanisation and agricultural land conversion. According to its existing estimates, mangrove coverage has shrunk by half in the last 40 years. Less than 1% of tropical forests are mangroves, such is its rarity, according to UNESCO.
Sundarbans apart, India is home to numerous other swathes of mangrove cover, which includes the Godavari-Krishna Mangroves, Bhitarkanika Mangrove Wetland, Baratang Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the Pichavaram Mangrove Forest in Chidambaram. During the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Pichavaram Mangrove Forest protected numerous hamlets in Tamil Nadu, by stopping the seawater from getting into the villages and minimising loss of house. Rows of mangroves close to the sea lowered the effect of the tsunami by decreasing the velocity and volume of the tsunami water.
According to central government information, India’s total mangrove cover was estimated at 6,740 sq km in 1987. It had shrunk to 4,662.56 sq km, according to 2011 information from the Forest Survey of India, Dehra Dun. Since then, having said that, there has been a turnaround with the mangrove cover growing to 4,975 sq km at the finish of 2019, according to a Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change report.
On its aspect, UNESCO has also undertaken numerous initiatives to help the conservation of mangroves. While inclusion of mangrove forests in the list of Biosphere Reserves, UNESCO Global Geoparks, and World Heritage internet sites have enhanced management and conservation, the decline nonetheless hasn’t been arrested completely. UNESCO also celebrates International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem on July 26 with the aim of raising awareness about mangrove ecosystems and to market their sustainable management and conservation.
Whether its efforts spend off or not, the value of mangrove forests can not be overestimated. Mangrove forests have acted as all-natural barriers from all-natural disasters for centuries, and their conservation can only bring a positive impact as climate modify continues to take hold.