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AP initiates movement to regenerate mangroves

A movement to preserve the fragile coastal ecosystem through the regeneration of mangrove forests on the lines of a successful Thailand experiment is underway along the eastern coast which has been subjected to the ravages of frequent cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal.

The initiative in Andhra Pradesh has been taken by the Marine Products Export Development Authority and some voluntary agencies, like the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, in co-operation with the local authorities.

The initiative has got off with the recent planting of more than 3,000 mangrove saplings along the course of the drain abutting the Bhairavapalem island village in East Godavari district of the state which bore the brunt of the November 1996 killer cyclone that claimed 250 lives. Environmentalists opine that the destruction could have been minimised but for the damaged natural mangrove cover.

Most of the islanders and many other villagers along the estuary depend on the mangrove forests for their needs and thus began the saga of destruction of the ecosystem all along the coast. The MPEDA and officials of non-governmental organisations have undertaken a massive campaign in coastal Andhra and the neighbouring states, particularly the maritime states which are developing a shrimp culture, to educate the masses on the need for preserving mangroves.

They are being taught to raise alternative plantations for meeting their fuel needs besides other options to raise their economic status through the adoption of different cropping patterns. The people are being made aware of the efficacy of mangroves which are salt-tolerant and flood-resistant besides acting as a host to several marine creatures, including shrimps, for their growth. They also act as ''natural biofilters'' to various pollutants being dumped from upstream.

Vishnu Bhatt, the Andhra Pradesh regional director of the MPEDA, said that the initiative taken by the Kung Krabaen Baev Raval Development Study Centre in an area of 640 hectares in Tha Mai district in the Chantaburi province of Thailand had demonstrated how the raising of mangroves could boost the coastal resources effectively and promote environment management.

The Thai authorities had even raised a botanical garden to preserve all varieties of the forest species of mangroves and marine life for bringing about awareness among the masses about the value of conservation and protection of mangrove forests.

The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation has also embarked on saving mangroves through its ''Man and Biosphere '' programme in a big way in the Asia-Pacific following their alarming rate of depletion.

The MAB is a global programme addressing the interlinked issues of bio-diversity conservation and economic and social development. The successful Columbian experiment of using mangroves as biofilters to check the cyanobacteria bloom in the supply of water and subsequent off-flavour problems also influenced the MPEDA to initiate the mangrove regeneration programme.

According to estimates, Andhra Pradesh has 12,464 hectares of pristine mangrove vegetation, 13,534 hectares of water-bodies and 4,200 hectares of degraded mangroves in East Godavari estuary as against 7,400 hectares of pristine mangrove vegetation, 3,400 hectares of water-bodies and 15,000 hectares of degraded mangroves in the Krishna estuary.

The M S Swaminathan research foundation, mooted by and named after the internationally recognised agro-scientist Dr Swaminathan, in collaboration with the Indo-Canada Environment Facility had made its own contribution to the people's movement now taking roots in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal through its real-time Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Project.

The M S Swaminathan Foundation, identified as the Indian Ocean Regional Centre under the Global Mangrove Information Services by the International Tropical Timber Organisation, has prepared a mangrove atlas of the east coast for the first time and initiated measures to restore degraded mangroves starting from the Sunderbans in West Bengal.

Significantly, micro studies have helped identify different species of mangroves and to take measures to protect the rare and threatened species through cloning/micropropagation and other suitable methods which the foundation had perfected.

UNI

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