Mangroves on the go

There are only 12 states and union territories along India’s coast that have mangrove forests – Maharashtra is one of them. Mangroves cover 222 square kilometres of Maharashtra’s coastline. Vikhroli, one of the largest private mangrove forests in Maharashtra (managed by the Godrej Foundation since the 1940s) is home to 16 of the state’s 24 mangrove species, 208 bird species and numerous marine species. According to a recent study cited in The Hindustan Times, the Vikhroli mangroves of Mumbai help to combat climate change by storing up to 6 lakhs of carbon. 

Globally, mangrove ecosystems play a huge role in carbon sequestration by acting as a carbon sink and absorbing large volumes of carbon dioxide from the air. Yet, these ecosystems face numerous threats from logging, land conversion and overharvesting. Mangrove ecosystems are in decline the world over – in fact, India has lost 80 percent of its mangrove area in just the past 60 years. And although mangroves are one of the oldest ecosystems we know (dating back 114 million years) they are often woefully understudied, being dense and difficult to access. 

The Navi Mumbai skyline, with mangrove forests at the edge of the sea. Photograph courtesy Wikimedia Commons CC BY 3.0

That’s why the newly released ‘Mangroves’ app, launched by Godrej Infotech Limited last week, is worth getting excited about. The app, which is available across platforms, was launched by the Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis well in time for the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, on July 26. It can help identify 22 mangrove species in Maharashtra, based on details such as the shape of the leaf or colour of the flower. There are plans to expand the mobile mangrove encyclopaedia to other parts of the country’s coastline too.

Cover: Photograph for representation only, by Jonathan Wilkins via Wikimedia Commons under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license