The minister added that India is committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 by forest and tree cover by 2030…reports Asian Lite News
India is likely to benefit from a $4 billion plan announced at the CoP 27 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves.
The Sunderbans is the single largest mangrove forest in the world spread across India and Bangladesh and home to some 7.2 million poor people and is expected to play a key role in fighting climate change. Apart from the Sunderbans, India has big mangrove forests in Andaman islands and Gujarat.
Mangroves are known to be natural barriers against sea level rise as well as in mitigating the effects of cyclones and storms. Mangroves work as a powerful carbon sink and are known to absorb more carbon emissions than regular forests.
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told the UN climate summit that mangroves are one of the best solutions to combating climate change and India can lend its expertise to the world in mangrove restoration.
Yadav was speaking at the launch of the Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) at COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. MAC seeks to bring together countries to promote mangroves against a worsening climate. Member countries include Australia, Japan, UAE, Indonesia, Spain and Sri Lanka.
He said: “We see the tremendous potential mangroves have for mitigation of growing greenhouse gases (GHG) concentration in the atmosphere. Studies have shown that mangrove forests can absorb four to five times more carbon emissions than landed tropical forests.”
He said that India has over five decades of experience in mangrove restoration and can share that with the world, adding that mangroves can help countries meet their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to help limit the rise in global temperatures to below two degrees Celsius.
The minister added that India is committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 by forest and tree cover by 2030.
Yadav said: “India is committed to conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems and has strong commitments towards conservation and management of mangroves. One of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world, the Sundarbans supports an exceptional level of biodiversity in both the terrestrial and marine environments, including significant populations of a range of flora and plant species”.
The G20 meet in Bali, Indonesia, on November 15-16 will also take up the case for mangroves through the MAC due to their role in combating the climate crisis.
“One way that Rotary is taking significant action worldwide is by helping to regrow mangrove trees around the world,” Shekhar Mehta interacts with Vishal Gulati.
After the culmination of the pivotal two-week-long UN Climate Change Conference COP26, Rotary will convene its own summit in a week’s time in the Philippines with focus on “how we can battle climate change and help build local economies”.
Rotary International Logo (Twitter)
Over the past five years, more $20 million in global grant funding has been allocated to environment-related causes by The Rotary Foundation through its support of community economic development and water, sanitation, and hygiene projects.
Talking on the penultimate day of COP26 where world leaders are hard at work on climate priorities — to keep global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as required by the 2015 Paris Agreement, Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta said he had seen first-hand in the 2004 tsunami devastation that would have been lessened if mangroves had been preserved.
“One way that Rotary is taking significant action worldwide is by helping to regrow mangrove trees around the world,” he said.
“Mangrove trees are extremely important in protecting local ecosystems, first because they help protect against soil erosion. They also provide shelter and create a breeding environment for small fish and other sea creatures.
“And they help mitigate the effects of coastline erosion and rising CO2 levels,” said Mehta, who led a discussion on mangroves at COP26 on Wednesday.
He explained how the mangroves along the coasts are vital in the fight against climate change as they help capture greenhouse gases.
The mangrove population, he said, has declined and been destroyed by development all over the world — causing “alarm for those of us who recognize the massive benefits these trees provide for our habitats”.
Between 1980 and 2005, an alarming 20 per cent of mangrove area was lost.
The Rotary would be supporting projects to restore mangroves in eight countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Tanzania.
Mehta said as a long-time friend of the United Nations, Rotary supports the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) and supports the goals of the Action for Climate Empowerment.
I had the opportunity to bring together representatives from over 20 countries for a discussion at #COP26. I pledged that Rotary International will support projects related to mangrove restoration & work with countries such as India, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/M6hMlhOGdn
“Rotary fully supports efforts to enhance education, training, public awareness, participation, public access to information and international cooperation regarding climate change.”
The Rotaract Club of Malindi, a seaside town by the Indian Ocean in Kenya has planted more than 80,000 propagules and more than 50,000 seedlings in the past four years.
Likewise, the Rotary Club of Nassau, the capital and largest city of The Bahamas, has held regular mangrove clean ups to remove rocks, sediments and trash to improve the flow of water through the mangroves in New Province, Bahamas.
In Australia, the Redcliffe Sunrise Rotary Club has sponsored a mangrove conservation day at Moreton Bay Marine Park to raise awareness of how the public can help protect mangroves and what they can do to influence policymakers to adopt development plans that take the long-term preservation of these trees into account.
In his city Kolkata, the Rotary Club of Rotary Club of Calcutta (Inner City) planted 10,000 mangrove trees in Sundarbans.
“These are just a few examples of the actions Rotary members are taking to protect these vital ecosystems. There are numerous other projects in the Philippines, American Samoa and the British Virgin Islands,” he said.
“All of these projects demonstrate Rotary’s long-term commitment to environmental sustainability,” he added.
After the tsunami in India, Mehta helped build nearly 500 homes for families affected by the disaster. He pioneered a programme that has performed more than 1,500 life-changing heart surgeries in South Asia.
The MSSRF acquired World Bank aid to train the Irulas in boating, fishing, crab trapping, crab fattening and prawn farming…reports Malini Shankar
On December 26, 2004, the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami wreaked havoc along the coasts of several countries of South and Southeast Asia, leaving an overwhelming trail of death and destruction in its wake.
However, for a small tribe living in Pichavaram, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, the tsunami would prove to be a blessing in disguise.
The Irulas are a semi-nomadic tribal community of hunter-gatherers, who lived a marginalised life eking out a living by hunting snakes and selling the skins. But after the tsunami, the government finally included them on the List of Scheduled Tribes and provided them with the necessary certificates. This allowed them access to welfare schemes and granted them much needed food and livelihood security.
Building bio shields
When the disastrous waves receded, ravaged coastal communities were left picking up the pieces of their lives. But in Pichavaram, the story was dramatically different. A post calamity analysis undertaken by the scientists of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) revealed that the Pichavaram mangroves forest protected the coastal villages from the tsunami. Mangroves lessen coastal incursion, seawater ingress, sea-level rise, cyclonic storms and tsunamis. Natural ecosystems such as mangroves, sand dunes, coral reefs, submarine rocks and seagrass came to be referred to as “bio shields” in a post-tsunami world, committed to disaster mitigation.
The mangrove ecosystem with above-the-soil-aerial roots is very eco-sensitive. They decrease both salinity in the soil and brackishness in the groundwater. They also fix nitrogen content in the soil, thus aiding climate change mitigation. The mangroves also make ideal nesting sites for coastal fauna including fishes, corals, crustaceans, cetaceans, birds, and reptiles e thanks to the complex web of chemicals and tidal cycles.
Though the Irulas were now enlisted in the Scheduled Tribe list, which gave them access to welfare schemes, they were still in need of mentoring and livelihood training.
Red mangrove (IANS)
MSSRF stepped up and successfully lobbied with the Forest Department to get fishing rights for the Irula tribe. In return for fishing rights, the Irulas were mandated to plant and protect the mangrove plantations. The Irulas were trained to plant the mangrove species in a fishbone pattern. “The fishbone pattern is an efficient method to facilitate tidal flushing which drains and quenches the aerial roots of the mangroves alternatively every six hours, thus enriching the fish catch and fish diversity,” according to the project coordinator, Priyangha. The Irulas now wait for the catch at their doorstep every morning.
According to Nagamuthu (39), an Irula beneficiary, “When the creeks were flooded by the tides, the fish quite literally came to the doorstep of the Irulas living in thatched-roof dwellings.” He grinned, rather happy, and continued, “this has reduced our labour, increased our nutrition intake and food security as well as augmenting our income and savings.” The Irulas are also expected to patrol the mangrove forests from poachers.
From starvation to sustainable fishing
The MSSRF acquired World Bank aid to train the Irulas in boating, fishing, crab trapping, crab fattening and prawn farming. Apart from these fishing skills, they also imparted training in making oars, weaving fishnets, deploying crab traps, harvesting pearl oysters, boating and oaring.
“In our mangrove project, we have integrated fish and crab culture. So plantation of mangroves is done along the bunds of the farm pond,” says Veerappan, a beneficiary amongst the Irula community in Pichavaram. 60-year-old Veerappan does fishing, crab trapping and prawn farming. Agricultural labour supplements his income along with poultry farming today. He lives in a concrete cement house given as compensation to tsunami survivors and maintains his family of 14 members, with a monthly income of Rs 20,000.
Fishing (Wikipedia)
Oysters are also a protected species in the Mangrove Forest Division. The Irulas are permitted to harvest protein-rich oysters for consumption purposes only, given their lack of food security and nutrition.
Pichakanna, a tribal elder says, “No one should face starvation as we did. We are coastal dwellers, we eat fish. We knew the skill and art of hand fishing but we did not know fishing on a bigger scale till we were trained by MSSRF. Now we are able to earn our livelihood respectably, and we also get to eat a full meal. This has given us confidence, better health, better standard of living, food and livelihood security.”
Education, inclusion and new opportunities
Livelihood training has also opened up opportunities in eco-tourism and has gone hand-in-hand to uplift the community along with scholarships for the education of the younger generation, access to water and sanitation, awareness about menstrual hygiene, the exercise of democratic rights such as voting and better health indices, among others.
A 27-year-old K Gunashekar is a contractual boatman of the Tamilnadu tourist department. He earns a sum of Rs 500 per day, besides a small amount as a tip, every fortnight. Posing for the camera confidently, one hand on his hat and the other, clutching a bamboo oar, he gushed about reservations and scholarships that have helped kids in the community complete their education, and go on to etch out prosperous futures for themselves, earning post-graduate degrees, preparing for competitive exams and going abroad to study and work.
A tribal elder, Papa, ruefully remembered the days when they “were treated like slaves”, taking whatever work came their way, their women vulnerable to even sexual exploitation. “Now we have peace and happiness; we are earning our living through this work which has increased our dignity when we compare our old life,” she said. Women, who handle the terrestrial fishing operations, now have access to gender-based toilets in fish landing centres that dispense sanitary napkins and condoms. The younger generation of Irula girls is regularly supplied with feminine hygiene products at their doorstep by ASHA workers of the National Rural Health Mission.
“Yes, menstrual hygiene of women fishers in Cuddalore district and Irula tribal women in Pichavaram has very much improved. Many awareness programs regarding menstrual hygiene have been conducted in the tribal locality,” said Dr Balaji in the Primary Health Care Centre in MGR Nagar in Pichavaram.
From being an obscure tribe living in extreme poverty, the Irulas have transformed into self-sufficient people with help from the MSSRF, the state government and other NGOs. They are now guardians of the Pichavaram Mangrove Forest, living in harmony with nature, a model for sustainability and conservation.
