Pichavaram Mangrove Forest: TEV, Ecosystem Services & Blue Carbon

Subject: GS 3: Environment 

Context: A recent study has estimated the Total Economic Value (TEV) of the Pichavaram Mangrove Forest in Tamil Nadu at ₹2,485.38 crore, highlighting the significant ecological, economic and social benefits provided by mangrove ecosystems.

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About Pichavaram Mangroves

• Location: Pichavaram Mangrove Forest is located in Tamil Nadu, near Chidambaram, along the Bay of Bengal coast.
• Conservation & Protection Status of Pichavaram: Pichavaram is both a Reserve Forest and Ramsar Site, but not a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary.
  • Reserve Forest: Pichavaram Mangrove Forest was declared a Reserve Forest in 1987 under the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.
  • Ramsar Site: Designated as a Wetland of International Importance in 2022 under the Ramsar Convention.
  • Conservation Initiative: Tamil Nadu has proposed a Mangrove Conservation Centre at Pichavaram to promote conservation and public awareness.
• Ecosystem: It is one of India’s important coastal wetland and mangrove ecosystems, supporting rich biodiversity and local livelihoods.
• Ecosystem Services: Mangroves provide provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services.
  • Ecosystem Services refers to the benefits provided by ecosystems to human beings, including provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services.
• Blue Carbon: The ecosystem acts as an important natural carbon sink, with a substantial proportion of carbon stored in its sediments.
• Livelihoods: The mangrove ecosystem supports coastal communities through fisheries and other livelihood activities.

About Mangroves

• Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that grow mainly in intertidal coastal areas, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions.
  • They commonly occur in estuaries, tidal creeks, lagoons, deltas and sheltered coastlines.
• Mangrove Cover & Distribution in India: ISFR 2023
  • Total Cover: India has 4,991.68 sq. km of mangrove cover, about 0.15% of its geographical area.
  • Major States: West Bengal, Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have the highest mangrove cover.
  • Distribution: Mangroves are found in 9 coastal States and 3 Union Territories:
    • States: West Bengal, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
    • Union Territories: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Daman & Diu.
• Key Characteristics: 
  • Adaptations: They possess specialised adaptations such as pneumatophores (breathing roots), prop roots and salt-exclusion or salt-excretion mechanisms that enable survival in saline and waterlogged conditions.
  • Nursery Grounds: Mangrove ecosystems provide breeding and nursery habitats for fish, crabs, shrimp and other aquatic species.
  • Coastal Protection: Their dense root systems help reduce wave energy, coastal erosion and storm impacts.
  • Carbon Storage: Mangroves capture and store significant amounts of carbon in both vegetation and waterlogged sediments, making them important blue carbon ecosystems.

Significance of Mangroves

• Climate Mitigation: Mangroves act as important carbon sinks and contribute to climate-change mitigation.
• Disaster Risk Reduction: They provide a natural defence against coastal erosion, cyclones, storm surges and flooding.
• Biodiversity: They support diverse marine, terrestrial and avian species.
• Livelihood Security: Fisheries and other mangrove-dependent activities provide income and food security to coastal communities.
• Climate Adaptation: Mangrove conservation is an important nature-based solution for strengthening coastal resilience.
• Policy Relevance: Economic valuation can support the integration of mangroves into Natural Capital Accounting, Green GDP, blue-carbon finance, carbon-credit programmes and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes.
  • Natural Capital is the stock of natural resources and ecosystems that provides benefits and services to society.
  • PES is a mechanism through which those who benefit from ecosystem services provide payments or incentives to those who conserve or maintain them. 

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