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Mumbai High Court Irked With Government For Neglecting Mangroves
August 09, 2007 at 11:56 AM
Environmental Health
Seervai pointed out to records gleaned from Cidco, which had asked the state to retain over 250 hectares of mangrove areas (out of the total 1,741 hectares in its jurisdiction) for development projects.
"Many of the plots have been marked as saleable plots, and some for a golf course," claimed the advocate. BEAG also contended that the state government’s action of inviting suggestions from local bodies on whether to declare the mangroves as forests or not were in violation of the high court order.
Mangroves are generally referred to as trees or shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats i.e. between sea and land inundated by tides, in the tropics and subtropics. Mangroves can mean a species as well as a community of plants. It has the ability to live in salt water.
Some people don’t like mangroves, regarding them as muddy, mosquito and crocodile infested swamps. In the past their removal was seen as a sign of progress.
So what is the point of preserving them? For a start, an estimated 75 percent of fish caught commercially spend some time in the mangroves or are dependent on food chains, which can be traced back to these coastal forests.
Mangroves also protect the coast by absorbing the energy of storm driven waves and wind. While providing a buffer for the land on one side, mangroves also interact with the sea on the other. Sediments trapped by roots prevent silting of adjacent marine habitats where cloudy water might cause corals to die. In addition, mangrove plants and sediments have been shown to absorb pollution, including heavy metals. This is precisely why environmentalists like those of the BEAG are trying to protect mangrove forests.
Source-Medindia
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