Current Understanding of the Mangrove Forests of India

Abstract

In this chapter the current understanding on various components of Indian mangrove habitats is reviewed and conservation measures required to ensure the sustainability of Indian mangroves are discussed. In India, mangroves are found on the east and west coasts of the mainland and on the Islands of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Indian mangroves represent 3.3% of global mangroves and about 56% of global mangrove species. Despite considerable work on the floristics and ecology of mangroves with minimal attention to management-related issues, Indian mangroves also remain underexplored in various other aspects—forest structure, faunal diversity, genetic diversity, soil physicochemical properties, microbial diversity, ecological services and its economic evaluation—which are prerequisites for effective implementation of conservation and management measures. Further, the bulk of the research has been carried out in the Indian Sundarbans, Bitharkanika, Pichavaram, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; other areas remain little studied. As we live in a world of diminished ecological diversity, the conservation focus on natural resources has shifted from species to ecosystems, and recent efforts have been focused on an ecosystem-based management approach. However, mangrove conservation measures have often relied on legal protection of existing mangroves and rehabilitation of degraded mangroves by monospecific plantation globally, as well as in India. Despite a recent increase in mangrove coverage and a slowdown in the degradation rate (judged solely on the basis of global or regional-scale remote sensing studies) achieved by existing conservation and rehabilitation measures, the ecological health of Indian mangroves, as well as mangroves in other countries, has experienced a continuous decline due to uncontrolled upstream anthropogenic activities and global climate change. National-level policy making in India lacks comprehensive understanding of how the various types of mangrove habitats along the coast function, in what social and ecological aspects they differ, and how those differences might be taken into account while planning for conservation. Since mangroves are highly dynamic and threatened, the understanding of various components and their interconnections is invaluable for streamlining future research and effective formulation of long-term, integrated, ecosystem-based management for preserving the biological diversity, ecological health, and ecological integrity of mangroves. Considering these facts, this chapter discusses the current knowledge on Indian mangroves on the basis of the available literature and future prospects for ecosystem-based management are also highlighted.