Activists from the Koli community are running awareness drives as they try to save Mumbai's mangroves, a biodiversity hotspot and their source of livelihood.
Context
Activists from the Koli community are running awareness drives as they try to save Mumbai's mangroves, a biodiversity hotspot and their source of livelihood.
What are mangroves?
- Mangroves are coastal forests situated between the ocean and land, made up of shrubs or small trees, which grow in coastal saline or brackish water.
- Mangroves are salt-tolerant vegetation that grows in intertidal regions of rivers and estuaries.
- Conservation Status:So far, none of the mangrove species has been included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- Category:They are referred to as ‘tidal forests’ and belong to the category of ‘tropical wetland rainforest ecosystem’.
- Coverage:Mangrove forests occupy around 2,00,000 square kilometres across the globe in tropical regions of 30 countries. India has a total mangrove cover of 4,482 sq km.
- A mangrove ecosystem is the interface between terrestrial forests and aquatic marine ecosystems.
- The ecosystem includes diversified habitats like mangrove-dominant forests, litter-laden forest floors, mudflats, coral reefs and contiguous water courses such as river estuaries, bays, inter-tidal waters, channels and backwaters
Important mangroves spices
- Bruguiera cylindrica and Sonneratia acida (at the verge of extinction).
- Miswak (Salvadora Perisica), which is used in the toothpaste
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What’s the Conflict
- The mangroves by the Kasadi river are a microcosm of what has long been transpiring in the once rich expanse of Mumbai’s coastal forests.
- As the Navi Mumbai Airport gets approvals for construction, permission to clear another 6 acres of mangroves has been granted.
Koli Community
- The Koli community, considered Bombay’s original inhabitants, have had a long and complex relationship with mangroves.
- Koli, also called Kori, caste with many subgroups who inhabit the central and western mountain area of India. The largest groups of Koli live in the state of Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai, and in Gujarat state.
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