5.

ThreatstoMangroves
5.1DegradationandDestructionofMangroves
Prof.K.Kathiresan
CentreofAdvancedStudyinMarineBiology AnnamalaiUniversity

angrove forests continue to disappear all over the world. They were estimated to cover 18.1 million km2 worldwide (Spalding, l997) but a more recent estimate indicates that the figure may now be below15millionkm2(www.fao.org/forestry/mangroves).About90%of theglobalmangrovesaregrowingindevelopingcountriesandtheyare undertheconditionofcriticallyendangeredandnearingextinctionin26 countries.Theworldmangroveexpertsareoftheopinionthatthelong termsurvivalofmangrovesisatgreatriskduetofragmentationofthe habitats and that the services offered by the mangroves may likely be totallylostwithin100years(Dukeetal.,2007).

Ingeneral,themangroveareasareunderheavyhumanpressure especially in the best developed mangroves that grow along humid shelteredtropicalcoastlinessuchasdeltaareasofGangesBrahmaputra, Irrawaddy and Niger as well in the coastlines of the Malacca Straits, Borneo and Madagascar. Besides manmade pressures, the mangroves are degraded by environmental stress factors. Some estimates put global loss rates annually at one million ha, with some regions in dangers of complete collapse (e.g. Kathiresan and Bingham, 2001). Habitatdestructionthroughhumanencroachmenthasbeentheprimary cause of mangrove loss. The destruction is caused by man either knowingly or unknowingly of values of mangroves, but certainly ignoringtheconsequenceoftheloss.Thelossofmangrovehabitatshas declined fishery resources, livelihood, and biodiversity loss. Besides overhuntingandaccidentaldeathinfishingnets,lossofmangroveand seagrass habitats are considered to be a major cause for the serious decline in the populations of marine mammals such as Manatees and Dugongs(AlvarezLeon,2001). The rate of loss in the recent past has reached alarmingly high rates (Table 3; Mastaller, 1996). To cite two examples, the Philippines lost 3155 km2 of mangroves from 1968 to 1990 that was 70.4% of the initialstand,atarateof 143 km2 ayearor39 haperday.Theaverage

477 Degradation & Destruction of Mangroves

annual destruction rate was calculated at 5.4% a year for the whole period.InThailandthemangroveareaswerelostby1934km2from1961 to1991andthereductionwas53%within30years.Theaverageannual reduction was 65 km2 or 18 ha per day and the average loss rate was 2.5%ayear.Theseratesofmangroveslossaremuchhigherthanother tropicalforestsandcoralreefs.Thegloballossofmangrovesis7million hectares a year, which is equal to 2 years of global loss of all forest systems(DieterUthoff,1996). Numerouscasestudiesdescribemangrovelossesovertime,but information on the status and trends of mangrove area extent at the globallevelisscarce.Thefirstattemptatestimatingthetotalmangrove area in the world was undertaken as part of the FAO/UNEP Tropical Forest Resources Assessment in 1980, where the world total was estimated as15.6 million hectares (FAO, 1981a,b,c). More recent estimates range from 12 to 20 million ha. For many of these studies, countries with small areas of mangroves were excluded due to lack of information and because their combined area of mangroves would not significantly affect the world total. However, access to comprehensive information on the status and trends of mangrove areas at the global level has been limited. Collecting more than 2800 national and sub nationaldatasets,covering121countrieswheremangrovesareknown toexist,andcomparingwiththe earliestestimatesdatingbackto1918, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2001)hascompiledanupdatedlistofthemostrecent,reliableestimate foreachcountry. Theresultsofthestudysuggestthatthecurrentmangrovearea worldwidehasnowfallenbelow15millionha,downfrom19.8million hain1980.Theworldhasthuslost5millionhaofmangrovesoverthe last twenty years, or 25 percent of the extent found in 1980. It also indicatesthatmangrovedeforestationcontinues,onaslightlylowerrate inthe1990s(1.1percentperannum)thaninthe1980s(1.9percentper annum), reflecting the fact that most countries have now banned the conversion of mangroves for aquaculture purposes and require environmental impact assessments prior to largescale conversion of mangroves for other uses. The study concludes that better information onboththeextentandtheconditionofmangrovesisneededasanaidto policyanddecisionmakingaimedattheconservation,managementand sustainableuseoftheworldsremainingmangroveecosystems.

K. Kathiresan 478

Table 3. Examples of the estimated worldwide decline of mangrove forestsinrecenttimes(Mastaller,1996)

Periodof Record 19691989 19631990 19651978 19791986 19661989 19611993 19691990 19581983 19761989 19691986 19681995 19221989 19301985 19111989 Estimated original mangrovearea (ha) 476000 685000 58000 113000 235000 300000 425000 260000 480000 4220000 448000 700 26300 70000 Estimated present mangrovearea (ha) 448000 587000 50000 89000 177500 219200 286400 175000 307000 2176000 140000 180 3000 250

Country

Percentage

Cuba Bangladesh Guatemala Peninsular Malaysia Ecuador Thailand Vietnam U.S.A Colombia Indonesia Philippines Singapore PuertoRico SouthIndia (Kerala)

94 86 86 79 76 73 67 67 64 52 31 26 11 4

CausesofMangroveDegradation Degradations of mangroves are caused by natureinduced changes. TropicalstormsandtsunamiarecommonintheBayofBengalandthe Caribbean respectively. The damaged forests take a very long time to recover.Tociteanexample,acyclonehasdestroyedabout8.5million trees in Bangladesh, which is equivalent to 66.3 million m3 of sawed timberintheyear1988. Diseases also cause devastating damages to mangroves. For example,topdyingdiseasehasdamagedabout45millionHeritierafomes (Sundari) trees. This is about 20% of the entire forests in Bangladesh (Hussain and Acharya, 1994). The top dying disease is believed to be caused by an array of factors increased soil salinity due to reduced

479 Degradation & Destruction of Mangroves

water flow, reduction in periodic inundation, excessive flooding, sedimentation, nutrient imbalances, pathogenic gall cankers, and cycloneinducedstress. Biological pests and parasites also have serious impacts on mangroves. Significant damage is caused by grazing of buffaloes, sheep,goatsandcamelsindrycoastalareasofAsiaandtheMiddleEast. Young plants are damaged by barnacles and leaf eating crabs of the sesarmid family. Some caterpillars are parasites of the fruits of Rhizophora,andtheseinhibitseedgermination. Mangrovespeciesitselfsometimesposesaproblem,whenitis introduced as an exotic species. For example, the nipa palm, (Nypa fruticans) was introduced from Singapore to Nigeria in 1906 to control coastalerosion.However,thepalmspreadextensiveareasandreplaced the native mangrove species like Rhizophora in Nigeria. Hence, the Federal Ministry of Environment of Nigeria has developed the Nypa PalmControlprogrammetocontroltheinvasivespecies. CausesofMangroveDestruction Globally mangroves are destroyed by manmade activities, which pose significantthreatsandtheyaredetailedbrieflyasfollows: Urbanization:Coastalmangroveshavebeenclearedforhuman inhabitationinmanyareaslikeSingapore,Jakarta,Bangkok,Rangoon, Kolkata(Calcutta),Mumbai(Bombay),Lagos,Maracaibo,Recife,Free town,Doualaetc. In India, Mumbai is one of the best examples for the mangrove destructionduetourbanization.AllthesevenislandsofMumbaiwere reclaimed and linked to a continuous landmass after destroying mangrovesintheprocess. Agriculture: The history of restriction of Sundarbans is nothing but the history of conversion of mangrove forests for agricultural purposes. This reclamation process was initiated in 1770 and it continued till recent past. In the largest delta region of the world, existingbetweenIndiaandBangladesh,1,50,000haofmangroveswere destroyed during the past 100 years, and these were mainly reclaimed foragriculture. The mangrove areas are deforested and reclaimed with rainwater to drain the salt content of the soil and these areas are protectedfromseawaterintrusion byconstructing embankments. Once

K. Kathiresan 480

thesaltisleachedtoasufficientlevel,thelandiscultivatedeitherwith paddyorcoconut. Aquaculturepractices:Alargescaledestructionofmangroveswas made for aquaculture in several countries. To cite an example, in the Philippines,between1968and1983,2,37,000haofmangroveswerelost forpondconstruction.Thisisalmosthalfofthetotalnationalmangrove area (Fernandez, 1978). One major issue associated with the farms located in mangrove habitats is acidification of pond waters that kills aquatic organisms. In Ecuador, the decline in mangrove areas was largelyduetotheconstructionof21,587haofshrimpponds,compared to only 1,157 ha for urban expansion in 196984. In Thailand, around 50% of the total denuded mangrove area of 1,71,472 ha was converted intoaquaculturepondsduringtheperiod196187.
Over-fishing

Land use of fresh water Tree felling Stunted growth & destruction of m angroves Low nutrient supply Low litter & detritus production Cattle grazing Poor dispersal of propagules Poor supply of sea water Narrow Estuarine m outh Reduced fishery resources

Cyclone Poor supply of fresh water

High soil Salinity

Poor rainfall

Poor flushing

Stunted growth & destruction of m angroves

High soil Salinity

Evaporation

H igh tem perature

Solar radiations

Fig.12. Possible factors responsible for degradation of mangroves and depletion of fishery resources at Pichavaram situated in southeast coast of India. Thisspecificareahasalready lost 75%itsgreencover within the last century and about 90% of the forest area is degrading (FromKathiresan,2000)

481 Degradation & Destruction of Mangroves

Cutting for timber, fuel and charcoal: Mangroves are cleared for timber, charcoal and firewood. Because of higher calorific value, the mangrove twigs are used as firewood. The mangrove wood is rich in phenols, and hence is highly resistant to deterioration, and it is widely usedastimberforconstructionpurpose.Themangrovewoodishighly suitable for chipboard industry and quality paper. As a result, several companieshavebeenestablishedforpapermillsandchipboardfactories in Indonesia.Withintwoyears,the timbercompaniesobtainedtimber byclearing1,37,000haofmangroves(Erftemeijeretal.,1989). Prevention of freshwater flow and tidal flow: Mangroves are best developed in areas that receive freshwater runoff and tidal water flushing. Embankment construction or siltation at the river mouths restricts the inflow of tidal water in mangrove swamps. Dam and barricade constructions in upstream areas for diverting water for irrigation purposes have resulted in poor flow of freshwater into mangroveswamps.Thepoorflowsoftidalandfreshwaterresultinhigh salinityofmangroveswampsandthusreducethegrowthofmangroves. Tociteanexample,inColombia,largepartsofmangroveforestsalong the lagoon of Cienaga Grande de Santa Marra, have died within 3 decades (Mastaller, 1989). Another good example is at Pichavaram, southIndia,wherethemangrovesarelargelydyingduetohypersalinity and other associated factors like increasing of temperature, poor precipitation, poor flushing of mangrove soil by tidal waters etc. These havebeenillustrateddiagrammaticallyinFig.12. Oil pollution: Oil or gas exploration, petroleum production, and accidents by large oil tankers cause significant damage to mangrove ecosystems. To cite an example, Nigerias richest oil wells are situated closetoinshorewhererichmangrovesonceexisted.Similarlyoiltanker accidentsintheGulfofMexicoandintheCaribbeanareasresultedinoil spillagethatseverelydamagesthecoastalsystems.Asaresult,theentire mangroveecosystemgotaffected,causingdefoliationoftrees,mortality of all sessile and benthic organisms and contamination of many water fowls.Oncethemangroveforestisaffectedbyoilpollution,itwilltakea longtimeofatleast10yearsforrecoveryoftheforest. Pollution issues: Mangrove habitats serve as a dumping ground forsolidwastesandfordischargingtheeffluentsfromvarioussources. The best examples of this are from Brazil and Singapore. In India as well,themangrovesthatexistedinmajorcoastalcitieslikeKolkataand Mumbaiareadverselyaffectedbypollution.

K. Kathiresan 482

War problems: The best example for this kind of mangrove destructionoccurredintheVietnamWar.Duringthewarperiod(1962 71),about71millionlitersofdefoliantchemicalsweresprayedoverthe coast,thatresultedinthedestructionof1,04,000haofmangroveforest (Ross,1974). Mining operations: This was a serious problem in countries like Thailand. Until the late 1980s, 4,27,000 hectares along the Thailand coastsinthevicinityofmangrovebeltswereminedfortin. DamagesCaused&NeedforConservation Thevalueofmangroveshasgoneunrecognizedformanyyearsandthe forestsare disappearing inmanypartsoftheworld. Theseimpactsare likely to continue, and worsen, as human populations expand further intothemangroves.Inregionswheremangroveremovalhasproduced significant environmental problems, efforts are underway to launch mangrove agroforestry and agriculture projects. Mangrove systems requireintensivecaretosavethreatenedareas.Sofar,conservationand management efforts lag behind the destruction; there is still much to learn about proper management and sustainable harvesting of mangroveforests(KathiresanandBingham,2001). Even where efforts have been made to slow the destruction, remainingforestshaveanumberofproblems.Insomeareas,thehealth and productivity of the forests have declined significantly. The causes ofthesetragiclossesdifferfromhabitattohabitatbutaregenerallytied directlyorindirectlytohumanactivities.Individualstudyisrequiredto determinethemosteffectiveremedialmeasures.Wheredegradedareas are being regenerated, continued monitoring and thorough assessment must be done to help us understand the recovery process (van Speybroeck, 1992). This knowledge will help us develop strategies to effectivelyrehabilitatedegradedmangrovehabitatstheworldover. References
AlvarezLeon,R.(2001).LasTortugasmarinasdeColombia:estadoactualdesu conocimiento.Rev.Acad.Columbi.Cienc.,25(95):269286. Duke,N.C.,Meynecke,O.J.,Dittmann,S.,Ellison,A.M.,Anger,K.,Berger, U. Cannic, S., Eiele,K., Ewel, K.C., Field, C.D., Kodedam, N., Lee, S.Y., Marchand, C, Nordhanus, L., and DahdoughGuebas, (2007). A world withoutmangroves?Letters.www.Sciencemag.org.p41.

483 Degradation & Destruction of Mangroves

Erftemeijer,P.Allen,G.andZuwendra,(l989).Preliminaryresourceinventory of Bintuni Bay and recommendations for conservation and management. In: Dir. Gen. Forest Protection and Nature Conservation andAsianWetlandBureau,Bogor,Indonesia,1151. FAO. (2001). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000: Main report. FAO ForestryPaper140.Rome.www.fao.org/forestry/fo/fra/main/index.jsp FAO,UNEP,(1981a).LosRecursosForestalesdelaAmericaTropicalProyecto de Evaluacin de los Recursos Forestales Tropicales (en el marco de SINUVIMA)FAO,UNEP,Rome.349pp. FAO, UNEP, (1981b). Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest ResourcesofTropicalAfrica.PartII:CountryBriefsFAO,UNEP,Rome. 586pp. FAO, UNEP, (1981c). Tropical Forest Resourcess Assesment Project, Forest ResourcesofTropicalAsia.FAO,UNEP,Rome.475pp. Fernandez, P.M. (1978). Regulations and their impact on mangrove areas for aquaculture the Philippine experience. Workshop Proceeding on the conversionofmangroveareastoaquaculture,Iloilo,pp.7884. Hussain, Z. and Acharya, G. (Eds.) (1994). Mangroves of the Sundarbans, Volume2:Bangladesh.IUCN,Gland,Switzerland,257pp. Kathiresan,K.(2000).AreviewofStudiesonPichavarammangrove,southeast India.Hydrobiologia,430:185205. Kathiresan, K. and Bingham B. L. (2001). Biology of mangrove and mangrove ecosystems.AdvancesinMarineBiology,40:81251. Mastaller, M. (1989). Rehabilitation der Lagune Ciengaga Grande de Santa Marta,Kolumbien. Projekt prufungsberichti. A.GIZ,Eschborn,pp. 1 152. Mastaller, M. (1996). Destruction of mangrove wetlandscauses and consequences.NaturalResourcesandDevelopment,43(44):3757. Ross,P.(1974).ThemangroveofSouthVietnam;theimpactofmilitaryuseof herbicides. In: Walsh, G.E., Snedaker, S.C. and Teas, H.J. (Eds.), Proceeding of International Symposium on Biology and Management of Mangroves,811Oct.1974,Hawaii,Gainsville,Unit.ofFlorida,pp.126 136. Spalding,M.(1997).Theglobaldistributionandstatusofmangroveecosystems. InternationalNewsletterofCoastalManagementIntercoastNetwork,Special edition,1:2021. Van Speybroeck, D. (1972). Regeneration strategies of mangroves along the Kenyan coast. In : Jaccarini, V. and Martens, E. (eds.) The ecology of mangrove and related ecosystems, Kluwar Academic Publishers, Netherlands,pp.243251. Uthoff,Dieter(l996).FromTraditionalusetototaldestructionFormsandextent of economic utilization in the southeast Asian mangroves. Natural ResourcesandDevelopment,43/44:5994.