We have lost 3,000 acres of mangrove cover

Environmentalist Rishi Aggarwal tells Lakshmy Ramanathan why the city’s mangroves should be saved

Does reclamation pose a threat to the city’s mangroves?
Mangroves face its biggest threat from realty investment projects, both residential and commercial. We have also been seeing temples and churches built within 10 metres of a river’s estuary.

In the Bangur area in Goregaon, there is a church that is five to 10 metres away from an inlet on the Malad creek, when rules say that the distance should be a good 200 metres.

In the last few years, mangrove lands have also been lapped-up by infrastructure projects like the 22km-long trans-harbour link between Sewri and Nhava Sheva.

Also, an amusement park group is proposing to build a 50-acre Pagoda-styled meditation centre in a mangrove-rich fishing village in Gorai, located in north-west Mumbai. Another 142 hectares of prime mangrove land has been earmarked in Kanjurmarg for dumping Mumbai city’s domestic waste.

This way, the government is just promoting a ‘pick and dump’ policy. Our administration will continuously be in fire-fighting mode, not knowing when a crisis will break out. We need to find permanent solutions, not quick fixes.

But aren’t the uses of mangroves a little exaggerated? Though they are said to mitigate the effects of storms and tsunamis, isn’t the wave energy in such areas typically low?
You are absolutely right there. Mangroves can only mitigate the degree of destruction, not prevent it. If a tsunami strikes, Versova is most definitely going to be wiped out. But we are not looking at the traditional uses of mangroves alone.

According to our calculations, the mangrove stretch in Lokhandwala Complex helped save Rs200 crore just in terms of insurance cover alone on 26/7.

Mangroves in the area also helped the locality, the only one in the city, to remain unaffected by the rains. They also help trap sediments, preventing the silting of adjoining habitats, and purify the air. It’s a wonder   that the need to conserve mangrove ecosystems refuses to enter the minds of Harvard-educated realty consultants.

Wasn’t Mumbai once home to vast stretches of mangroves?
Mangroves once dotted the landscape of this island city, especially in areas such as Jogeshwari, Andheri and Goregaon. After the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules were drawn in 1991, more such areas were recognised. Some of these included the Malad creek, Sewri mudflats, Bandra-Kurla complex, Mahim bay and the entire stretch from Ramabainagar to Ghatkopar till Mulund. Our 2005-06 estimates indicate that mangroves occupy a measly 10-12 sq km of the 430 sq km land mass area of Mumbai.

Which of these areas have now been reclaimed?
Between 1997 and 2002, Mumbai lost close to 3000 acres of mangrove cover. This was bound to happen, considering the frenzied levels of land-grabbing prevalent in city. Just recently, the Sahara group bought 500 acres of mangrove land opposite Millat Nagar in Andheri. In Colaba, the army quarters extended into the mangrove stretches in Navy Nagar. Slums in Guzder Bund area in Santa Cruz (West) have now been encroaching into the nearby mangrove area for the last 20-40 years.

So is mangrove conservation a lost cause?
No it isn’t. There are still vast expanses of mangrove land that remain undisturbed in the city. These include the stretches behind the WTC, along the Malad creek in Madh Island, and behind IC colony in Borvili. There are also good stands of mangroves in Bangur Nagar in Goregaon.

The point is, mangroves by nature are extremely resilient and left undisturbed, can thrive in any saline environment.

Rishi Aggarwal is joint secretary, Mangrove Society of India (Mumbai Chapter)