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SAVE THE MANGROVES!
With the monsoons around the corner, it is a matter of concern to save the mangroves in Kandivali
Mangroves are buffers between the land and the sea. Coastlines throughout the world are facing serious problems of coastal erosion and threat of rising sea levels due to global warming. To control such assault of the sea on land, nature has provided mangroves, a tropical ecosystem which is more dynamic than the sea itself. Kandivali is one among many other such areas in Mumbai which faces the threats of destruction. Only awareness can help save these precious eco boundaries of nature. According to local residents and environmentalists, the long stretch of mangroves in Charkop has been allegedly set on fire many a times by the land grabbers. "Lot of encroachment is going on at Charkop. There are truckloads of sand and stones coming in to fill the areas. People are afraid to come out and speak because most of the land grabbers are gang lords. It is a regular sight to see burning mangroves," informs Milli Shetty of Vikas Samiti, a resident of Kandivali who has been involved in saving the local mangroves. Garbage too is dumped into these intertidal areas, upsetting the salinity of the seawater and choking off mangrove tree roots. The dumping is a technique to illegally reclaim the land, and subsequently build on it once the trees have been destroyed. "As a result, people tend to associate mangroves with filth and smell," adds Milli. "Mangroves not only help in preventing soil erosion but also act as a catalyst in reclaiming land from seas. This is a very unique phenomenon, since there is a general tendency of water to engulf land" says Shahzeb Yamin, MA Development, from the Azim Premji University now doing an internship with Mangrove society of India in Mumbai. Mangrove forests and estuaries are the breeding and nursery grounds for a number of marine organisms including the commercially important shrimp, crab and fish species.
With the monsoons around the corner, it is a matter of concern to save the mangroves in Kandivali
Mangroves are buffers between the land and the sea. Coastlines throughout the world are facing serious problems of coastal erosion and threat of rising sea levels due to global warming. To control such assault of the sea on land, nature has provided mangroves, a tropical ecosystem which is more dynamic than the sea itself. Kandivali is one among many other such areas in Mumbai which faces the threats of destruction. Only awareness can help save these precious eco boundaries of nature. According to local residents and environmentalists, the long stretch of mangroves in Charkop has been allegedly set on fire many a times by the land grabbers. "Lot of encroachment is going on at Charkop. There are truckloads of sand and stones coming in to fill the areas. People are afraid to come out and speak because most of the land grabbers are gang lords. It is a regular sight to see burning mangroves," informs Milli Shetty of Vikas Samiti, a resident of Kandivali who has been involved in saving the local mangroves. Garbage too is dumped into these intertidal areas, upsetting the salinity of the seawater and choking off mangrove tree roots. The dumping is a technique to illegally reclaim the land, and subsequently build on it once the trees have been destroyed. "As a result, people tend to associate mangroves with filth and smell," adds Milli. "Mangroves not only help in preventing soil erosion but also act as a catalyst in reclaiming land from seas. This is a very unique phenomenon, since there is a general tendency of water to engulf land" says Shahzeb Yamin, MA Development, from the Azim Premji University now doing an internship with Mangrove society of India in Mumbai. Mangrove forests and estuaries are the breeding and nursery grounds for a number of marine organisms including the commercially important shrimp, crab and fish species.