International Mangrove Day: Protecting Coasts, Combating Climate Change
Protecting mangroves is not just about conserving trees; it is about safeguarding the future of coastal communities as well as addressing the broader challenges of sequestration of greenhouse gases, a potential source of climate change.
Mangroves, the tropical and subtropical coastal vegetation, often abandoned and neglected intertidal flora coverage is now acquiring public attention for its tremendous capability to absorb atmospheric carbon, giving human civilisation a second chance to reform and revise their previous action.
The preceding two hundred years witnessed rapid industrialisation followed by massive changes in the landscape of earth and changes in our life style,exacerbating tremendous pressure on the atmosphere by releasing humongous amount of Green House Gases (GHG), creating forces for climate change.
In this scenario, the tropical costal belts are the front runner victim of climate hazards, as these places are vulnerable to tragedies like coastal erosion, repeated cyclones, storm surge, coastal inundation and increased salinity of the soil disturbing the food production and the health of the local communities.
It is notable that the tropical coastal areas are highly populated with economically poor people dependent on the coastal marine ecosystem for their life and livelihood.
The aggravating climate change forces are increasing the fragility of the coastal ecosystem thus pushing the coastal community to vulnerable conditions. At this hour, climate experts are pointing towards mangrove ecosystem as the saviour, as it has multiple services that not only addresses the costal community’s predicament but also manage global fret of increase in atmospheric green house gases.
Mangroves, a complex forest ecosystem are found in the tropical and subtropical intertidal areas of estuaries and brackish water where the land meetsthe sea. These temperature sensitive plant varieties are saline resilient along with some intrinsic properties that helps itself to propagate in difficult terrain.
Pneumatophore roots, low lying intertwined branches, dense foliage, slimy muddy floor etc. are the unique properties of mangrove ecosystem that provide countless ecosystem services to the costal communities.
The offshore communities feel protected from the fury of cyclonic heavy wind blow and storm surge remaining within the enclosures of mangroves as the entangled roots and diminutive dense canopy coverage dissipate the energy of the wind and water.
These root systems also help in the stabilisation of the soil reducing the vulnerabilities of soil erosion along the course line of flowing river near the estuaries. Beyond the role of a protector, mangroves act as a provider of fuel, food, timber, honey and medicine for the community members.
It acts as a purifier of local aquifer regulating the quality of drinking water that safeguards the health and agricultural food production. Mangrove floor is the nursery ground of marine animals as it provides them sufficient food for their offsprings and hideout from predation.
In global scenario, mangroves act as an efficient carbon sink, absorbing and burying the atmospheric carbon as blue carbon under its biomass and roots. This vital ecosystem service of the mangroves at this critical juncture of climate change, received the attention of United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2015 thus declaring 26th July as International Mangrove Day.
Hence from 2016, the world is celebrating this day as international mangrove day to commemorate the importance of this hydrophytic tree coverage, reinforcing the idea of restoring and regenerating the coastal lost green coverage for the benefit of the human society.
Various scientific reports are of the opinion that the global surface temperature has already reached 1.10C and by a decade it will cross 1.50C mark that will bring many catastrophic events in near future.
It is a well-known fact that heat retention capacity of water is more in comparison to the land and seventy percent of earth’s surface is covered under ocean floor, creating a concern and anxiety for the future time line.
Ocean scientists are of opinion that the Indian Ocean, the hottest among all the oceans of the world is going to face frequent marine heat waves in the coming years owing to increased global mean temperaturehaving ultimate impact on the marine life & ecology and consequential impact on the coastal community.
The increased sea surface temperature will be the potential reason for increased turbulence in the sea, conducive for the formation of cyclones, storm surge and coastal erosion. Further to this the increased sea surface temperature is going to affect the dissolved oxygen content in the water, making it more acidic, difficult for the marine animals to survive.
The time has come that we need to invest in mangrove conservation along the Indian Ocean Rim, that consists majority of the mangroves of world belonging to countries like Indonesia, Myanmar, Malysia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia etc. to create resilient coastal community that would bolster with enhanced biodiversity which will help the global efforts to combat climate change.
In this pre context, it is high time that we should act now to restore and regenerate the lost coast line natural defence system that is the mangrove ecosystem.
Protecting mangroves is not just about conserving trees; it is about safeguarding the future of coastal communities as well as addressing the broader challenges of sequestration of greenhouse gases, a potential source of climate change.
With each successive year, the forces of climate change are growing stronger, squeezing the opportunity for effective action.
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