Mangrove Forests of India: Beyond the Sundarbans

The Sundarbans aren’t India’s only mangrove story. This article covers three other mangrove ecosystems, each with its own distinct claim to fame.

Beyond the Sundarbans

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63 SPECIES

Bhitarkanika, Odisha

Home to the world’s largest saltwater crocodile population

DEGRADED

Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu

Shrunk by aquaculture ponds and salt pan expansion

1,000 → 3,000+ HA

A genuine mangrove restoration success since the 1980s

ISFR 2023

West Bengal 42%, Gujarat 24%

India’s top two states by share of total mangrove cover

The spread: mangroves line India’s coast in 12 states and union territories, not just West Bengal.

📑 Contents

🌿 Must Know

1. Three Key Sites

Bhitarkanika In Odisha, this site is home to 63 mangrove species. It shelters the world’s largest recorded population of saltwater crocodiles.
Pichavaram In Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district, this is one of the world’s largest mangrove forests. Aquaculture ponds and salt pans have degraded parts of it over time.
Gulf of Kutch In Gujarat, this site holds one of India’s clearest mangrove restoration success stories. Cover grew from around 1,000 hectares in the 1980s to over 3,000 hectares today.

2. National Coverage, per ISFR 2023

Top States West Bengal holds the largest share of India’s mangrove cover, at 42.45%. Gujarat follows at 23.66%, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands at 12.39%.
Total Cover India’s total mangrove cover stands at 4,991.68 sq km. It spreads across 12 states and union territories.

📊 Good to Know

The Bigger Picture

Other Sites Other significant mangrove areas include the Godavari-Krishna delta in Andhra Pradesh, and stretches along Kerala‘s coast.
National Trend The ISFR 2023 recorded India’s total mangrove cover shrinking slightly, by 7.43 sq km compared to 2021, even as most individual states saw gains.
Gujarat Gujarat itself lost 36.39 sq km of mangrove cover in that same period. This happened even while it held the second-largest state-wise share overall.

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🔍 Great to Know

1. Contrasts and Cautions

Contrast Bhitarkanika and Pichavaram show two opposite trajectories for mangrove ecosystems facing similar pressures. One remains biodiverse and largely intact; the other has degraded under sustained human land-use change.
Reading Stats State-wise mangrove statistics can mislead without context. Gujarat’s high overall share coexists with a genuine net loss in the most recent survey period. That shows aggregate numbers can hide a declining trend.

2. Restoration and Shared Value

Proof of Concept The Gulf of Kutch’s tripling of mangrove cover proves restoration is achievable at real scale. It is not just a policy aspiration on paper.
Shared Role Mangroves across all these sites serve the same core functions: storm-surge protection, fish-nursery habitat, and carbon storage. This holds regardless of which specific state or ecosystem is involved.

🛡️ Bio-Shields, Not Farmland, and the Answer Key

Why Mangroves Are Bio-Shields, Not Resilience Add-Ons

Biology Mangroves are halophytes, salt-tolerant plants adapted to waterlogged, saline mud through structures like pneumatophores. They don’t store freshwater or filter seawater for farming.
Common Trap Converting mangrove forest into paddy fields or shrimp aquaculture ponds is a real driver of mangrove loss, not a resilience strategy built on top of them.
Real Role Their real climate role is as natural bio-shields. Dense root systems dissipate wave energy from storm surges and cyclones, while also supplying biomass and fishery resources that support coastal livelihoods.
MISHTI The government’s MISHTI scheme (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes) funds large-scale mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt pan lands. It was announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 and formally launched on 5 June 2023, explicitly citing this bio-shield and carbon-sequestration role.

📝 Previous Year Questions

UPSC Mains 2019 GS Paper I, Q5