Mangroves Are Getting the Protection They Need in This State

Over the course of 2021, the protection of mangrove cover in Mumbai, India grew 23% as more than half of the state’s total mangrove cover has become a legal forest, a positive outcome that benefits biodiversity, land, and humans alike.

“This whole process starts by first declaring the mangrove site as a reserved forest under Section 4 of the Forest Act, which we had done even earlier, starting 2015,” says Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forests, mangrove cell.

Following a Bombay High Court order, the proportion of mangrove forests being protected gained 23 percentage points, from 30% to 53%. Some 3,000 hectares of mangrove remain to be bought in 2022 as part of the Forest Act. Mangroves are known to play a crucial role in coastal and tidal ecosystems, in protecting land and population against storms and flooding, and in being a great captor of carbon emissions.