Restore Mangroves in the Coastal Tracts of India for the Survival of People in the Face of Climate Change Impacts: A Review
Ashis Kumar Paul *
Department of Geography and Environment Management, Formerly at Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India.
Anurupa Paul
Anurupa’s Research Association, Ambedkar Chowk, Solapur, Maharashtra, India.
Joydeb Sardar
Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Bio-shielding tidal-flat wetland ecosystems through mangrove plantation missions can help restore mangrove environments in the physiographic settings of sedimentary depositional landforms, such as tropical river deltas, estuaries and backwaters. Mangroves are also adjusted to the carbonate settings of the limestone coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands in the northern Indian Ocean province. Mangroves act as dense buffers against marine hazards in deltaic tracts and carbonate shores of the regional settings, but they are significantly affected by climate change impacts and sea-level rise threats. In previous decades, frontal mangroves were damaged by cyclonic storm landfalls in the Sundarbans and by the tsunami event in the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands, respectively.
Through adaptive capacities and zoned growth, mangroves adjust to environmental changes, but they appear vulnerable to climate change-induced coastal hazards, human-controlled drainage discharges and sea-level rise rates in deltaic settings. Because of the positive ecosystem services of mangroves to society and the environment, they should be restored on island fringes, estuary fringes and adjacent deltaic wetlands. Considering the diversity of mangrove characterisation and restoration policies, selected species should be identified for planting in different physiographic settings with specific environmental gradients. The extent of the plantation forest ecosystem should be monitored and protected by mangrove armies, village communities, environmentalists, NGOs and local administrators while assessing the success rates of restoration mechanisms, vegetation growth, biomass production and carbon sequestration rates.
The present work is based on experiences of mangrove research in deltaic, estuarine and carbonate settings along the East Coast of India and in the archipelago of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Traditional and modern issues of mangrove research are highlighted in this study for the benefit of geographers, environmental scientists and entrepreneurs involved in restoring vulnerable coastal habitats.
Keywords: Mangroves, climate change impacts, sedimentary, depositional landforms