Koli community’s fight to save Mumbai’s mangroves

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

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.