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Restoration of Mangroves in Gujarat

Name of the Funding agency: India Canada Environment Facility

Name of the Implementing Agency: Gujarat Ecology commission

Goal, Purpose and Impact:

Goal: To contribute to India's capacity to promote environmentally sound

development in land, water and energy sectors.

Purpose: To promote community based regeneration and sustainable

Management of mangroves in selected communities along the Gulfs of Kachchh and Khambhat, Gujarat

Impact: 1. Increased acceptance and support for community based

approaches for natural resource management by communities and by the government.

2. Enchanced capacity of ICEF partner organizations to promote

and deliver NRM in a pro-poor and pro-women manner.

Introduction for Mangroves:

The mangroves are important in terms of ecological, environmental, and livelihood securities they provide. With respect to the ecological security, they are known as sites of high biological productivity and as natural nursery grounds for a variety of marine organisms. In terms of environmental security, mangroves reduce erosion by trapping the sediments and stabilizing the coastal zone and thus protect the coast from

storm surges, In terms of livelihood security, they provide edible (fish) and other utilizable resources (e.g. firewood) to the population living in the vicinity of mangroves.

The mangroves also have a considerable influence on the productivity and fisheries potential of adjacent coastal waters. The terrestrial vegetation (mangroves trees) produce much more of organic matter than is consumed by heterotrophs, and an important fraction of this gets exported into coastal waters by freshwater addiction and tidal action. This productivity and physical safety afforded by mangroves also attracts a large number of larvae and juveniles, especially those of shrimps. Because of these reasons, mangrove swamps have come to be widely acknowledged as playing a significant role in enhancing coastal marine fisheries in the tropical region.

Mangroves of Gujarat:

The 1600 km long coastline of Gujarat was once dotted with mangroves, along the Gulfs of Kutch and Khambhat and along the south Gujarat coastline. These mangroves were not only protecting the coastal areas from vagaries of cyclones and erosion, but were also acting as green barriers against saline breeze, In addition, they were providing rich breeding grounds for the marine fisheries. Unfortunately most of these mangroves, except in the marine national park and Kori creek areas in Gulf of Kutch have been severely degraded with disastrous consequences.

The past records as well as interactions with elders in the coastal villages reveal that historically there were good quality mangroves all along the coastline of Gujarat. The vegetation map of Kathiawad prepared by the French Institute of Pondicherry in 1960 show dense mangrove forests at Kandla, southern coast of Gulf of Kutch, western coast of Gulf of Khambhat etc. Working plans of Jamnagar and Kutch show that in the past mangrove forests were thriving there. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. XVIII (1908), mentioned that in Navanagar State (now Jamnagar), mangrove swamps lined the shores of the Gulf, affording large supplies of firewood and pasture. Similarly mangrove swamps were present at many places like Ghogha-Bhavnagar, Dholera, Khambhat, from Neja to Nada villages on the coast of Jambusar taluka, and Narmada and Tapi estiaries in Gulf of Khambhat. Avicennia marina has been the dominant species from the beginning although Rhizophora and a few other species have also been recorded.

Most of these mangrove forests have largely been degraded over the years. The degradation has been both in terms of loss of mangroves and also loss of species, with Avicennia marina virtually replacing all other species of mangroves. The total mangrove cover in the State at present is about 938 sq. kms, which on the face of it is quite impressive. But most of these mangroves are located only in Kutch and Jamnagar districts, 727 and 141 sq. km respectively, which account for more than 90% of the State's mangroves. And here too, only one place - Kori creek - situated at the northwestern tip of the Gulf, accounts for 68% (643.3 sq. km) of the State's mangrove cover. This is an isolated patch of natural mangroves, which has survived all these years as it is very far from any human habitation and directly influenced by the Indus delta. Recently, there have been reports of degradation in these mangroves due to biological reasons. The 1999 cyclone too had its effect, by uprooting many mangrove trees in this area.

In the past whole coastline from Okha to Navalakhi and Surajbari, i.e.-southern coast of Gulf of Kutch in the Jamnagar and Rajkot districts was covered with thick mangrove forests. Now one finds only isolated patches of sparse mangroves, restricted mainly to the various bets (islands) which form the Marine National Park and Sanctuary. Most of the coastal mudflats in this region are devoid of any vegetation.

In the Gulf of Khambhat, the area has suffered severe degradation in a short span of 25-30 years, with a rapid rate of 32.3 sq. km per decade at places (Ashwini Kumar, 1996). Mangroves were present even 30 years ago near villages Sigam, Zamdi, Malpore and Nada. Presently, only Nada has some sparse and scrubby mangroves. The patchy records of mangrove cover by various agencies during the period from 1875 to 1983 show that there was a marked decline in the mangrove cover from 438 sq. km in 1970 to 13 sq km in 1983 in most parts of the Gulf of Khambhat.

Expected Result - Outcome lever (at the End of the Project):

· Enchanced capacity of communities to regenerate and sustainably manage mangrove resources for increased livelihood opportunities.

· Increased support from industry in conserving and regenerating mangroves

· More proactive involvement of the government in community based regeneration and conservation of mangroves.

Expected Results - Output level

· Better skills to conserve mangroves and develop alternative fodder

· Better regulated access/use of mangrove resources by Maldharis in project sites

· Viable CBOs in place and managing mangrove resources at project sites

· Enhanced ability of NGOs to successfully facilitate community based management of mangrove resources with the CBOs

· Increased understanding and more willingness to work with communities for mangrove conservation and regeneration by the industries

· A more facilitated environment with respect to government clearance for communities to work for mangrove regeneration

· More awareness amongst State Policy makers dealing in coastal natural resource management on the positive impacts of the community based management practices in mangrove regeneration

· Better advocacy for policy changes in favour of community based mangrove management in Gujarat

Project Period: Five years, i.e. from 2001-2006