Mangroves in India- Destruction of Mangrove in Mithi and Ulhas River

Presented By- Sneha Subramanian Roll No- 34

MANGROVE
The word "Mangrove" is considered to be a combination of the Portuguese word "Mangue" and the English word "grove". Mangroves are salt-tolerant plants These are highly productive but extremely sensitive and fragile Mangrove ecosystems serve as a buffer between land and sea. They actually protect the land from the impact of the sea and by trapping silt they also maintain the integrity of shoreline.

MANGROVE IN INDIA
According to a status report of the Government of India publication, the total area of the mangroves in India, was reckoned at about 6,740 sq.km. This covered about 7% of the world mangroves (Krishnamurthy, 1987) and 8% of the Indian coastline (Untawale, 1987).

But a recent Indian Remote Sensing Data (Nayak, 1993) showed that the total area of the mangroves decreased to 4,474sq. km .

MINIMIZING THE FURY OF CYCLONES

Mangrove forests protect all types of coastal communities from the fury of cyclones and storms. The best example on finds is the supercyclone which occurred on the 29th October 1999 with a wind speed of 310 km hr1 along the Orissa coast (India) and played havoc largely in the areas devoid of mangroves. On the contrary, practically no damage occurred in regions with luxuriant mangrove growth.

It has been cited that mangroves can help buffer against Tsunami, cyclones, and other storms. One village in Tamil Nadu was protected from tsunami destruction -the villagers in Naluvedapathy planted 80,244 saplings to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. - This created a kilometre-wide belt of trees of various varieties. When the tsunami struck, much of the land around the village was flooded, but the village itself suffered minimal damage.

MANGROVE SITES IN INDIA

MANGROVES IN MUMBAI
Mumbai is surrounded by over 5000 acres of mangrove swamps spread over various areas like Mahim, Madh, Thane creek, Versova, Gorai and Ghodbunder. In case of mangroves, land has been reclaimed in the name of slum rehabilitation and garbage dumps. The mangroves situated in the creek play an important role of flushing the water before it reaches the sea. Mumbai has probably lost 40 per cent of all its mangroves in the past decade or so, largely because of reclamation for housing, slums, sewage treatment and garbage dumps.

IMPORTANCE OF MANGROVES
Buffer Zone between the land and sea. Protect the land from erosion. Play an invaluable role as nature's shield against cyclones, ecological disasters and as protector of shorelines. Breeding and nursery grounds for a variety of marine animals. Harbour a variety of lifeforms like invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and even mammals like tigers. Good source of timber, fuel and fodder. Main source of income generation for shoreline communities like fisherfolk. Save the marine diversity, which is fast diminishing. Purify the water by absorbing impurities and harmful heavy metals and help us to breathe a clean air by absorbing pollutants in the air. Potential source for recreation and tourism.

MAJOR THREATS
Land reclamations for construction activity,

aquaculture, agriculture,

tourism
Industrial and domestic pollution

Port development
Dumping of all kinds of waste and debris Deforestation for fuel wood Over harvesting of marine resources

MANGROVE DESTRUCTION IN MUMBAI

Rapid developments like housing, industrialization, pollution and increasing population of Mumbai has resulted into degradation of mangroves. There are two important creeks, Vasai Creek towards north and Thane Creek toward south where luxuriant mangrove patches are still left. The worst affected area in Mumbai is the entire western front excepting Carter Road where the mangroves have grown and have also registered an increase in height in the last 10 years. This has been possible due to the participation of citizens forums fighting individually.

MITHI RIVER
The Mithi River (aka Mahim River) is a river in Salsette Island, the island of the city of Mumbai. It is a confluence of tail water discharges of Powai andVihar lakes. The river is also a natural drainage channel which carries the excess waters during the monsoons. The river originates from the overflow of Vihar Lake and also receives the overflows from the Powai Lake about 2 km later. It flows for a total of 15 km before it meets the Arabian Sea at Mahim Creek flowing through residential and industrial complexes of Powai, Saki Naka, [kurla], Kalina, Vakola,Bandra-Kurla complex, Dharavi and Mahim.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
Very often, and this continues to happen, citizens dump raw sewage, industrial waste and municipal waste into the river, unchecked. Mouth of Mithi has been reduced to a shocking 60%, blocking its flow and drainage capacity.Kurla scrap dealers dump a lot of chemical, plastic, metal scrap, organic waste, sand and stone, brick debris. The damage caused to the Mithi River can be gauged from the fact that in spite of the desiltation and cleanup undertaken in the aftermath of 26/7 failed to prevent flooding in these areas.

ULHAS RIVER
The Ulhas River is a river of western India. It originates near Karjat in the Western Ghats Range, and flows westward through Raigad and Thanedistricts of Maharashtra between Kulgaon-Badlapur, north to Ulhasnagar (to which it gives its name) and on to Kalyan, where it turns west to Thane. Near Raw water pump house of MIDC Jambhul the river meets Barvi Dam discharge water also called as Barvi River. The conflunce is a tourist and fishing hub for villagers around. At Thane the river splits into two branches which flow west and south, respectively, around Salsette Island, on which lies the metropolis of Mumbai.The main branch turns northwestward to Ghodbunder, where it opens into the estuary of Vasai Creek. Thane Creek flows south to empty into Bombay Harbour.