India Mangroves, including Sunderbans, face triple threat of sea-level rise, lack of mud & squeezed habitats

By Ruchika Uniyal

Mangrove forests like Sundarbans are facing the “triple threat” of sea-level rise, lack of mud and squeezed habitats which could have dramatic economic and environmental consequences for coastal communities, new research has warned.

“Mangroves provide valuable ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, coastal protection and habitat for organisms. The loss of mangrove forests not only threatens the habitat of local organisms, such as shrimps, fishes and crabs, but also exposes coasts to natural hazards, increases coastal erosion and puts coastal cities at risk,” said Danghan Xie, a researcher at Utrecht University (Netherlands), who studied how coastal forests are getting pushed against their shores and losing their diversity.

In a recently published study in Environmental Research Letters, Xie found that on one hand, mangroves are being deprived of mud and on the other, sea-level rise is threatening their existence [...].

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Another study published by an international team of researchers in journal Biological Conservation this month has identified the Sundarbans as ‘endangered’ [...]. “Erosion and sea-level rise coupled with agriculture and aquaculture expansion and mangrovedeforestation threaten the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem. [...]", Sievers told the Times of India.