Mangroves for the future
Locals in coastal areas reveal that they are always vulnerable to cyclones, storms due to depleting mangrove forests.
The writer is a development professional and project manager at Strengthening Participatory Organisation
The mangrove cover at Sindh’s coastline has diminished to a dangerous extent due to a number of environmental and climatic factors exposing coastal communities to natural hazards. If efforts are not made to recover and preserve mangroves, the coastal areas of Pakistan and their delicate ecosystem would be at an even greater risk of being destroyed.
In districts Thatta and Sujawal, tehsils like Kharo Chann, Jati, Shah Bunder and Keti Bunder Taluka are adjacent to the Arabian Sea. In Keti Bunder Taluka, 32 out of 42 settlements have been engulfed by the intruding sea and the only reason is the shortage of fresh water and the rise in sea level.
We are eyewitnesses to the more than 25 years of a mature and thick mangrove forest, which has been disappearing over a period of time, due to different reasons, like shortage of fresh water, overgrazing by camels and cutting of trees by local communities for firewood. Moreover, mangrove forests are also known to be the walls that protect coastal areas from storms and cyclones, as well as the hatchery for fish and shrimps.
Locals in these coastal areas reveal that they are always vulnerable to cyclones and storms due to the depleting mangrove forests, which do not only protect them, but also provide livelihoods by being a source of firewood and fish. Hassan Alias Gilli Solani, the president of a community-based organisation, shared that mangroves have been planted adjacent to a village in Khobar Creek with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature under its Indus for All Programme during the year 2008.
Experts reveal that the Avicenna Mari (commonly known as gray mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove trees classified in the plant family Acanthaceae. As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas) is one of the most dominant mangrove species in Keti Bunder. Locals also tried the almost extinct Rhizophora Mucronata (it is a species of mangroves found on the coasts and river banks in the Indo-Pacific region) with only 500 saplings and this has shown tremendous results within just five years.
It is, however, hard to maintain these mangroves as they are threatened by the grazing of camels — found across the coast in hundreds. But the efforts of community-based organisations have ensured the mangroves’ safety from camels.
“We are happy to have these mangroves grown up as dense patch that will not only protect us from the cyclones but it will also provide a lot of fish and shrimps for our livelihood,” shared Gilli, happy to see these amazing results.
These amazing results of a small demo have been shared with the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), which supported this endeavour and was pleased to see its success. The SSGC plans to invest more in the area under its corporate social responsibility programme. Those leading the mangroves venture have also planned to scale up this plantation with a focus on the Rhizophora Mucronata variety of mangrove.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2014.
In districts Thatta and Sujawal, tehsils like Kharo Chann, Jati, Shah Bunder and Keti Bunder Taluka are adjacent to the Arabian Sea. In Keti Bunder Taluka, 32 out of 42 settlements have been engulfed by the intruding sea and the only reason is the shortage of fresh water and the rise in sea level.
We are eyewitnesses to the more than 25 years of a mature and thick mangrove forest, which has been disappearing over a period of time, due to different reasons, like shortage of fresh water, overgrazing by camels and cutting of trees by local communities for firewood. Moreover, mangrove forests are also known to be the walls that protect coastal areas from storms and cyclones, as well as the hatchery for fish and shrimps.
Locals in these coastal areas reveal that they are always vulnerable to cyclones and storms due to the depleting mangrove forests, which do not only protect them, but also provide livelihoods by being a source of firewood and fish. Hassan Alias Gilli Solani, the president of a community-based organisation, shared that mangroves have been planted adjacent to a village in Khobar Creek with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature under its Indus for All Programme during the year 2008.
Experts reveal that the Avicenna Mari (commonly known as gray mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove trees classified in the plant family Acanthaceae. As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas) is one of the most dominant mangrove species in Keti Bunder. Locals also tried the almost extinct Rhizophora Mucronata (it is a species of mangroves found on the coasts and river banks in the Indo-Pacific region) with only 500 saplings and this has shown tremendous results within just five years.
It is, however, hard to maintain these mangroves as they are threatened by the grazing of camels — found across the coast in hundreds. But the efforts of community-based organisations have ensured the mangroves’ safety from camels.
“We are happy to have these mangroves grown up as dense patch that will not only protect us from the cyclones but it will also provide a lot of fish and shrimps for our livelihood,” shared Gilli, happy to see these amazing results.
These amazing results of a small demo have been shared with the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), which supported this endeavour and was pleased to see its success. The SSGC plans to invest more in the area under its corporate social responsibility programme. Those leading the mangroves venture have also planned to scale up this plantation with a focus on the Rhizophora Mucronata variety of mangrove.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2014.