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The recent rains in Mumbai and the disaster that followed demonstrated the consequence of tampering with the ecology of fragile ecosystems like mangroves. Had Mumbai’s Mithi river and Mahim creek mangroves not been destroyed by builders, fewer people would have died and the property damage would have been dramatically less.

Builders, city planners, even some of our best known architects have been waging a quiet (sometimes not so quiet) war against mangroves and wetlands, not just in Mumbai but across the country. This battle was fought (and won) by the builders who ended up almost closing the mouth of the Mithi River and reclaiming over 700 acres of mangroves swamps in the Mahim creek, the only outlet of the river into the Arabian Sea.

Mangroves represent the spirit of Mumbai – they are plucky survivors. But each day, millions of citizens in Mumbai pass these hardy plants imagining they are little more than dirty, muddy weeds growing pointlessly along the shoreline. How little people understand just how important mangroves are to the quality of life of the citizens of Mumbai. Thousands of children know this for they have seen the flamingoes of Sewri mudflats and have gone birding in the Thane and Gorai creeks. They are now working to get the Thane creek declared a World Heritage Site.

Mangrove ecosystems serve as a buffer between land and sea. Mangroves are generally found in the tropics and sub-tropics in inter-tidal and sheltered creeks, estuaries and shallow bays like Mahim and Sewri.

In the early nineties, perhaps over 37 sq. km. of mangroves existed in Mumbai, largely in the Thane creek, Mahim, Versova, Gorai and Ghodbunder, with sporadic patches in places such as Bandra, Malabar Hill and Colaba. Mumbai has probably lost 40 per cent of all its mangroves in the past decade or so, largely because of reclamation for housing, slums, sewage treatment and garbage dumps. Fortunately, thanks to the Godrej family, we still have excellent mangrove forests in Vikhroli.

Around 20 out of the 35 species of true mangroves found in India have been identified along the Maharashtra coast and 15 species of these are found in Mumbai. Because of the high salinity of the soil, something like 60 per cent of Mumbai mangroves comprise Avicennia marina. Nor surprisingly this species also tolerates pollution including heavy metals such as lead, mercury and chromium, all found in significant concentrations in the Mithi river.

Builders seem to have declared war on mangroves in Mumbai because they can turn mangrove swamps to cash by replacing them with buildings, as was done by the promoters of the Bandra Kurla Complex. But this has come at a high cost, most of this paid by lakhs of citizens whose houses were flooded during the recent rains.

Mangroves are flood buffers. They also help to stabilise climate by moderating temperature, humidity, wind and even waves. They are specially adapted to withstand salinity, wave action, and can grow in poor soils. They actually protect the land from the impact of the sea (behind mangrove swamps in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh the impact of tidal waves and the tsunami was significantly less). By trapping silt, mangroves also maintain the integrity of Mumbai’s shoreline. This is a service the city of Mumbai should have learned to appreciate as it is very prone to erosion, having been built on reclaimed land that is battered by the sea on all three sides.

The Koli community in Mumbai worships mangroves because they know that these are breeding and nursery grounds for the marine organisms on which their sustenance depends. When I served on the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s Infrastructure Expert Committee I sought the help and advice of the venerable Bhai Bhandarkar of the Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti. He was the first one to provide me with unimpeachable arguments against the Bandra Worli Sea Link. His people fought and lost their battle to stop the project. I was eventually thrown off the Committee by the Ministry of Environment and Forests after which the sea link was cleared.

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