Đang tải... (xem toàn văn)
Rừng ngập mặn quần đảo Andaman và Nicobar là vấn đề đáng quan tâm trong kịch bản biến đổi khí hậu. Diện tích hiện tại của rừng ngập mặn là khoảng 617 km2. đã giảm dần qua các năm (Cục Lâm nghiệp A và Đảo N 2009). Đánh giá định tính chỉ ra rằng rừng ngập mặn vượt trội gấp 10 lần so với các hệ thống phòng thủ nhân tạo trong việc đối phó với các thảm họa liên quan đến khí hậu (subhash etal. 2012). Tổng giá trị kinh tế của Rừng ngập mặn Andaman được tính toán là hơn INR. 125 triệu mỗi năm.
See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260766965 Valuation of mangrove services of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India Article · June 2013 CITATIONS READS 15 3,124 authors: Subhash Chand Ramesh chandra Srivastava National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University Samastipur Bihar 79 PUBLICATIONS 234 CITATIONS 130 PUBLICATIONS 1,403 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Pandian Krishnan Sibnarayan Dam Roy Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) Indian Council of Agricultural Research 218 PUBLICATIONS 1,912 CITATIONS 447 PUBLICATIONS 2,242 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: NAARM Think Tank Policy Research View project Assessing the status of pesticide residues and heavy metals in sediments and aquatic biota in Neil Island View project All content following this page was uploaded by Pandian Krishnan on 14 March 2014 The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review ISSN 2315-6880 Vol 2(6) pp 130-137 June 2013 Available online http//www.basicresearchjournals.org Copyright ©2012 Basic Research Journal Full Length Research Paper Valuation of mangrove services of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India Subhash Chand1, R.C Srivastava2 P Krishnan3 and S Dam Roy4 Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair – 744 105 Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India *Corresponding author Email: scchand46@gmail.com, Tel: 9474206538(M), 03192250436(O) Accepted 17 June, 2013 Mangroves of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are matter of concern in climate change scenario Present area under mangroves was about 617 sq.km which has been decreasing over the years(Forest Department A and N Islands 2009) The qualitative assessment indicates that mangroves are 10 folds superior to manmade defense systems in dealing with climate associated disasters (subhash etal 2012) The total economic value of Andaman Mangroves was worked out to be more than INR 125 million per year The value of goods and services harvested by per household per year was more than INR 61,000/- Similarly, the value of mangroves per hectare in A & N Islands was more than INR 0.2 million The people’s perception about the use and ecological services delivered by mangroves obtained from 120 respondents About 95% of the respondents perceived that mangroves will die due to change in sea level 56% were in opinion that damage of mangroves will result in reduction in fish catch During 2004 tsunami, the areas fringed with mangroves were less affected than those open seas Thus, sufficient effort should be made to conserve the existing mangroves Keywords: Mangroves, total economic value, climate change INTRODUCTION Indian coasts fall within the bounds of the tropics, measures about 7516.6 km and are distributed among nine coastal states and four Union Territories of this, over 22.6% of the total length of the coasts of India is of islands i.e Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Diu Islands etc The climate along the Indian coast varies from one that of true tropical region in south to that of sub-tropical and arid environment in Kachchh in northwest Rainfall varies from only 300 mm in the semiarid region of Kachchh in western part of Gujarat State to average maximum of 3200 mm in Andaman-Nicobar Islands in south Sundarban in West Bengal, the Great Nicobar Island in southern middle islands of Andaman and Nicobar in marine environment has to be protected and conserved The loss of mangroves continues at alarming rates, but the rate of net loss is showing signs of slowing down in line with the trend in forests About 185000 mangroves lost every year, in 1980s, the net loss 118500 per year in the 1990s and dropped to 102000 per year (a loss of 0.66 percent annually) during the 2000–2005 period, reflecting an increased awareness of the value of mangrove ecosystems (FAO, 2006) Andaman and Nicobar Islands have tall dense mangrove forest due to favourable climatic conditions such as short dry season and high tidal fluctuation, heavy amount of rainfall (Naskar and Mandal 1999) Some area has been reclaimed for agriculture and settlement (A and N Islands Environment and Forest Department, 1997 Mangrove associated fauna play a significant role in the functioning of the ecosystem (Dagar et.al 1997Lee, 2007; Kristensen et al., 2008; Nagelkerken et al., 2008) and it can be a useful indicator of the state of managed mangroves The socio-economic importance of natural mangrove goods and services has been documented repeatedly (Adger et al., 2001; Barbier, 2006), However, restored mangroves generate income similar to that of natural mangroves The climate change will have direct effect on the productivity of the agriculture, livestock and fisheries, the coastal areas are likely to get inundated, disease and malnutrition may increase and freshwater availability may get reduced The impact of climate change on the fragile ecosystem is more evident as the islands have witnessed the tragic incidence of earthquake followed by devastating tsunami in 2004 Realistic and accurate assessments of Sea Level Rise (SLR) impacts need to consider the joint effect of secular trends in sea level and storm regimes (Anand, 2006, Chand et al 131 Figure Geographical location of Andaman and Nicobar Islands IPCC;2001,IUCN; 2002) Impact on highly diverse and productive ecosystems such as mangrove forests will depend upon the rate of sea level rise relative to growth rates and sediments supply, space for an obstacle to horizontal migration, changes in climate and ocean environment Existing mangroves can keep pace with a relative sea level rise of 8-9cm/100years About the study area The topography of the islands is rolling with low range hilly mountains to narrow valleys at the foothills resulting in an undulating terrain ranging from steep slopes to coastal plains The Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands lie in the Bay of Bengal (6-14 N lat.; 92-94 E long) Altitude ranges from to 365 m above sea level (Figure 1) The climate of the Islands is an equatorial warm humid tropical Average temperatures 0 varies from 29 to 32 C (maximum) and 22 to 24 C (minimum), respectively Average annual rainfall is 3100 mm, distributed over 8-9 months and nealy 95 percent of annual rainfall is received during May to December (2250mm) and during North East monsoon (685mm, Oct to Dec.) Remaining four months (January to April) is dry in which agriculture suffers with severe moisture stress Average Relative Humidity (RH) ranges from 68 to 86% Mean wind speed varies from to 15 km/hr, although higher wind speed of 15km/hr is experienced during June to August Maximum sunshine hours of to 10 hours per day are observed during dry months The total population in these islands is about 0.36 million (Population Census, 2001) with growth rate of about 26.9 percent in the last decade and grown up to 0.38 million (population census; 2011) Decade growth was seven percent during (2001 to 2011), the lower rate of growth may be due to the fact that loss of mankind during tsunami 2004 Assuming the population growth rate as in the last decade, it is projected that the population in these islands will increase to nearly 5,73,500 in 2021, nearly 55 percent population living in rural areas (Ambast et al., 2010) There are six Major tribes in A and N islands namely Andamanese, Onges, Sentinelese and Jarawas in which Andaman are Mongoloid and next are Negrite The British attempted to ‘civilise’ the Andamanese people, teaching them to eat exotic food, to wear clothes, live in houses, schools, and hospitals and farms These experiments failed, and led to the total decimation of the Great Andamanese (Portman, 1899) The Sentinelese and the Jarawas, the other two tribes in the Andamans, has resisted contact until the 1960’s The Sentinelese numbering 100-150 (estimated), have for long inhabited North Sentinel Island, an island 60 km south west of South Andaman These people have been living total isolation for over hundreds of years except for contact attempts made by the A and N Administration in 1967, 1991, 2000 and 2004 However there are lot of disturbances around their island, due to intensive fishing, lobster collection and Myanmar poachers, who dive for sea cucumber and shells The Jarawas are confined to the west coast of South and Middle Andaman Islands There are around 3000 Karens tribe in the islands now, with the main concentration living just south of Mayabunder in Middle Andaman Settlement was opened up in South, Middle and North Andaman for them, and the majority of the settlement in the Diglipur area occurred during 1957-1959 Between 1953 and 1972, 4212 families of refugees from East Pakistan and landless persons from other states were settled here under various colonization and rehabilitation scheme including 297 families of ex-servicemen settled on Great Nicobar Island In the 1960’s a group of 300 repatriates were brought from Srilanka under the Shastri – Sirimavo Pact and settled in Katchal Island in Nicobars, and this population has increased to over 3000 numbers Mostly upper reaches coconut, arecanut, and other plantation crops are predominant While in valley areas, vegetables, paddy, spices and fruits are cultivated and agriculture are practiced only on 43000 area (6%) to total geographical area 132 Basic Res J Agric Sci Rev Figure Climatic profile and tourist inflow and availability of perishable foods in Islands Table Area and Production of Major Crops S No 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Name of crop Paddy Pulses Oilseeds Black Pepper Clove Coconut ( million nuts) Arecanut Cashewnut Banana Pineapple Sugarcane Vegetables Tapioca Sapota Sweet potato Area Ha 8139.85 2971.09 110.80 600.40 155.90 21760.22 4152.50 1077.85 1596.30 224.71 141.80 5200.00 274.65 156.40 161.90 Production (Metric Tons) 24907.01 1890.66 69.80 58.31 4.82 84.97 5200.00 332.13 14872.95 608.42 2007.60 41500.00 2120.00 2914.60 912.02 (Source: Dept of Agriculture; A and N Administration, 2011) In recent past perishable food item production took enormous turn over because of increased population, inflow of tourists and increased per capita income in the Bay Islands as well as in India Monthly rainfall pattern, availability of local agriculture production and tourist inflow in these islands is given in figure There was deficit rainfall during December to April but in same period local agri horticulture produce availability was also higher similarly tourist inflow was also higher This means we need suitable technology for this period so that agriculture production can be enhanced and the demand of locals and tourist can be met However, research efforts of CARI, have indicated that if protected cultivation is promoted, fruits, vegetables and flowers supply can be assured Further, it was observed that some of the vegetable are available throughout the year indicating potential of local production (Subhash et al., 2012) Main crops grown in A and N Islands viz Plantations (50%) occupies major agriculture area followed by paddy (19%) and followed by other vegetables, spices and fruit crops (Table 1) The mangroves in A and N islands provide many fold ecological benefits and deliver multifarious ecological functions to the islands The direct beneficiaries are the fisherman, farmers, labours, pharmaceutical industry, tourism sector, etc apart from the indirect benefits of the mangroves to the researchers, shoreline protection, conservation of biodiversity, neutralization of green house gasses etc in A and N islands Mangroves also enhance the production and productivity of agriculture crops by providing biomass in the form of manure and moisture The total economic value of mangroves assessment will create awareness among researchers, policymakers and end users to realize its importance and will result in protective and conservation policies of these vulnerable areas In view of the above facts, this study was conducted with the objectives of assessing the total economic values and ecological services of mangroves in A and N Islands, India The findings are given in following section, materials and methods, results and discussion, conclusions and policy implications Chand et al 133 MATERIAL AND METHODS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Primary data were obtained by extensive field surveys and open end questionnaire method at South, North and Middle and Car Nicobar islands and series of consultations were held with different stakeholders Secondary data from the A&N Administration were obtained with respect to the meteorological parameters, demographic particulars and productivity in the agricultural sector To access socio economic status of the beneficiaries from mangroves area, 120 respondents were selected randomly for the detailed study The data were collected on the aspects viz use of mangroves, income of the beneficiaries, family size, education level, utilization pattern of mangroves, willingness to pay for conservation of mangroves, impact of climate change, reasons for degradations of mangroves, etc The secondary data were collected from the published report of forest department, statistical abstracts and other published research reports from national and international organisation Status and trend of mangrove degradation Andaman and Nicobar Islands Analytical framework for valuation techniques There are many techniques available to estimate the economic value of environmental goods and services Further details and guidance on how and when they should be applied can be found in, Barbier et al (1996); Duke et al (2007); Badoll and Husain (2005) The collected data were analyzed for logical conclusions The benefits (direct and indirect) from the mangroves as perceived by the different stakeholders i.e fisherman, tourism, local community, Govt research organization etc were given the weights as under 0= not important, 1= less important, important and = very important (James Spurgeon and Jacobs GIBB; 2002) The weights were further categorized based on the potential value for income, employment and other benefits The total economic value was worked out based on revenue generated through fisheries, fuel wood, transport, medicinal and recreational value Total economic value (TEV) = f (F,fe,Tr, Med, Rc) Where, F= Fisheries fe= Value of fuel woods, Tr= Transport value, Med= Medicinal value, Rc= Recreational value The utility and ecological benefits harvested by stakeholders were obtained from the respondents by using structural questionnaire in The world has lost some 3.6 million hectares of mangroves over the last 25 years The loss of mangroves continues at alarming rates, but the rate of net loss is showing signs of slowing down About 185 000 lost every year in the 1980s, the net loss dropped to some 118500 per year in the 1990s and to 102000 per year (or a loss of 0.66 percent annually) during the 2000– 2005 period, reflecting an increased awareness of the value of mangrove ecosystems (FAO, 2006) Most countries have now banned the conversion of mangrove areas for aquaculture purposes and insist environmental impact assessments (EIAs) prior to large-scale conversion of these areas for other uses They are not only the source of livelihood of coastal people but also breeding ground for fishes and act as bio shield against natural calamity and pollution Andaman and Nicobar Islands possessed more than 86 percent area under forest The extent of mangroves in the A and N islands (20%), West Bengal (44%) and Gujarat (21%) followed by Orissa and other states of India (Figure 3) The trend of forest degradation and deforestation indicated that from 1987 to 2009 about 13 % of forest covers are lost in the islands However, in the case of mangroves about 10 percent indicating nearly one percent loss per annum which is an alarming signal It is high time policy makers, researchers and stakeholders respond before this natural defence vanishes Subhash et al (2011) estimated that a total economic value of Andaman mangroves was INR 125 millions on current price All the ecological functions were not taken into account due to non availability of data Therefore, taking into account all the benefits of mangroves proper policy decisions need to be devised so that mangroves of these islands can be conserved Benefits harvested by respondents per annum in Rs From mangroves The values of mangrove products harvested per annum calculated based on the income based classification of the respondents i.e small (58%), medium (28%) and large (14%) It was found that on an average, each household harvests more than INR61000/- from the mangroves area in terms of fuel wood, fodder, timber, medicine, fish and others This value was higher in the case of small households (INR 70,447/-) followed by 134 Basic Res J Agric Sci Rev Figure Status of mangroves in India Table Average values of mangroves products collected per Household Products Fish harvesting Shrimp harvesting Crabs harvesting Fuel wood Collection Timber Wooden poles Vegetables Coir industry Fraund viewing Total Value (INR)/ Annum Small (69) Medium (34) 52400.4 35890.5 9177.5 5465.8 3390 3000 2271 1560.5 400 400 948 1890 409.1 150.5 124 100 1326.8 1055.6 70446.80 49512.90 Overall Large (17) 28690.5 10500.6 800 1000 2500 2000 0 2000 47491.10 (INR) 44363.69 8313.29 2912.58 1889.63 697.50 1363.93 277.87 99.63 1345.33 61263.47 Figure Ranking of benefits of mangroves of A and N Islands medium and large, which indicates that small farmers are more dependent on mangroves forests (Table 2) To protect the livelihood of small and marginal farmers alternate options are to be explored so that dependency on mangroves can be reduced and they can be protected Ranking of mangroves benefits The ranking of benefits was assessed through a point scale (0-10) and same is presented in Figure The study revealed that people were aware about the benefits of the mangroves and they ranked coastline protection as the most important benefits of mangroves followed by biodiversity and protection of natural resources However, education benefits, alternate livelihood and enhancing ecotourism also were important benefits This has indicated that people are concerned about the degradation and loss of mangrove In spite of their immense role in protecting human resource as well as biodiversity, these unique mangrove habitats of India have been facing tremendous threats due to indiscriminate exploitation of mangrove resources for multiple uses like fodder, fuel wood and timber for building material, alcohol, paper, charcoal and medicine (Upadhyay et al., 2002) Apart from those, conversion of forest area to aquaculture and agriculture, construction of Chand et al 135 Table Ecological functions of mangroves perceived by different stakeholders Functions Output mangrove & of Direct use: Fuel Fodder Medicine Genetic res Apiculture Wild life res Fish res Recreation Tourism Education and research Indirect use Support to fisheries Support to habitats & Species Shoreline protection Sediment & accretion Other function Non Use Other none use value Total I = Income Stake holders Fisherman Local People I E B I E 0 1 (0-3 point scale) Total Score Tourism B I E B Res Edu I E 0 & Govt B I E B I E B 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 1 1 5 1 5 2 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 10 13 15 13 42 29 51 E= Employment B= Other Benefits port and harbour, extension of human inhabitation, overgrazing, urbanization, industrialization, and chemical pollution are major issues that affect mangroves (Naskar, 2004) Therefore, mangroves play a greater role in protection of island ecosystem Opinion of different stakeholder about mangroves ecological services To assess the benefits of mangroves in terms of perception by different stakeholders, a scoring technique was used The scores were assigned as ‘3’ for most important and ‘0’ for not important and benefits were categorized i.e I = Income E= Employment B= Other Benefits The functions performed by the mangroves in favour of mankind in terms of fodder, medicine, genetic resource, apiculture , wild life resources, fish resources, recreation, tourism, education, shoreline protection, sedimentation and accretion Table indicates that different stakeholder i.e fisherman, local people, tourism industry, research and education and government derives direct and indirect benefits from the mangroves across the globe and A and N Islands are not an exception In the case of fisherman direct benefits have received score 10 and for employment generation whereas for other benefits score was higher (13) indicating that fisherman perceive protective and ecological benefits supplied by mangroves ecosystem are more In the case of local people direct benefits i.e income and employment generation scored at high level as compared to indirect benefits The tourism industry has rated higher score (13) for indirect benefits In the case of research and education a similar trend was noticed and has indicated that mangroves ecosystem is important for researchers since it provide live laboratory for their research The government departments who were engaged in management and protection of mangroves i.e forest and agriculture department also have indicated higher score for indirect benefits (9) Though majority of stakeholder have given higher score for indirect services provided by the mangroves but fisherman, tourism industry and research education institutions have rated still very high of these benefits The total scores assigned by the beneficiaries to employment (42) and for income (29) and other benefits (51), respectively This has indicated that highest score obtained by indirect benefits means environmental protection and ecological balance is at top priority of the stakeholder However, ecological functions delivered by the mangroves indirectly 136 Basic Res J Agric Sci Rev Table Expenditure preference on visit of mangroves site seen of tourists in A and N Islands No Important Tourist Place Expenditure preference (%) N=35 Light & Sound Show 10 Rajiv Gandhi Water Sports Complex (ride the equipments) 3 Visitors to Mini Zoo, Haddo 12 4 Mahatma Wondoor 17 Mount Harriet National Park 12 Limestone Caves 25 Biological Park, Chidiyatappu 14 Gandhi Marine National Park, Table People’s perception about the effect of climate change on mangroves S.No Particulars Mangroves will decline Mangroves will vanish Other species of mangroves will regenerate Fish production will decrease Houses will be affected Agriculture land will be affected General infrastructure will be affected were more as to direct benefits i.e income generation and employment opportunities Hence, valuation process should take into account the assessment of other benefits by using the surrogate measures Since A and N Islands, are developing as tourist destination, need to be devised proper policies for conservation of existing valuable biodiversity Mangroves and ecotourism The tourists were interviewed to assess how they rank the available tourists site in A and N Islands, how they allot the expenditure to tourist sports which have mangroves The expenditure preference is presented in the table This was observed that out of 35 interviewed tourist who came from mainland, have allocated about 50 expenditure on the tourists sites within the mangrove area among the sites they have been visited in A and N Islands About 2.0 lakh tourists are visiting A and N Islands annually and it is expected to increase over the year Though, tourist inflow was less than 0.4 lakh numbers during 1991-92 But during 2006-07 upward trend was noticed immediately after tsunami, having upward trend in tourist inflow, need biodiversity Frequency N=120 91 70 54 People’s perception (%) 76 58 45 Ranking 58 98 80 64 48 82 67 53 VI I III V II IV VII conservation and protection measures urgently in A and N Islands The information gathered from the 120 stakeholders on what will be the possible impact of the climate change on mangroves and is presented in (Table 5) It was observed that people were aware of negative effect of climate change, as they were living in areas adjacent to mangroves More than 80 percent were of the opinion that their houses, general infrastructure and agriculture area will be affected if mangroves are destroyed This is mainly due to the fact that sea level will rise due to high tides; cyclone etc available limited avenues will destroy An increase in sea level due to global climate change produces greater wave attack and flooding leading to greater erosion and amplified impact of storm (Patwardhan, 2006) Developing countries are likely to be more vulnerable to climate change due to projected magnitude and poor adaptive capacity (Climate change 2001, IPCC) following institutional and resource constraints The contribution of islands to global climate change is negligible though but they bear the maximum brunt of climate associated disasters This calls for an adaptation-centric climate policy in terms of developmental projects and issues against the conventional approach in terms of response to an Chand et al 137 environmental problem The 20 percent of coastal length of total coastal area in India, existing in Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Diu Islands) Conclusions and Policy implications The role of mangroves in terms of income and employment generations is less than the other indirect benefits Indirect benefits in true sense cannot be assessed with certainty due to absence of market But qualitative assessment indicates that mangroves give benefits more than 10 times in comparison of manmade defense system against climate change The total economic value of Andaman Mangroves was worked out to be more than INR 125 million (Subhash et al., 2011) with constraints of non availability of quality data On an average per household harvests mangroves associated products more than INR 61000/- per from the mangroves area in A and N Islands These multifarious functions in terms of protection of natural and manmade resources apart from providing livelihood opportunities and coastal economic products Inter-tidal mudflats, saline and less productive coastal lands provide opportunity to raise coastal forests as a multiple use ecosystems (sink for carbon; barrier against cycle, storm and salty winds, coastal land stability; sustainable agriculture behind shelter belt and basic needs of coastal community) Strict protection of existing mangroves against encroachment and cutting and its expansion by regenerating potential intertidal areas through plantation of suitable species, including vulnerable and threatened species appears to be necessary management options Adaptation capability of the species, which may not adapt quickly to climate change, can be improved through management intervention, especially by facilitating their regeneration in new areas The scientific studies and continues monitoring the ecological changes and sea level rise should be done to provide continuous inputs for necessary management intervention At present hyper saline area of high tidal mudflats is not suitable for mangroves but scenario may change with sea level rise Large such area, especially in A and N Islands is expected to provide adequate scope for adjustment and adaptation of mangroves against sea level rise Mangroves of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are matter of concern for even low rate of sea level rise Therefore, this is high time to formulate policy for conservation of existing mangroves of A and N Islands REFRENCES Adger WN, Kelly PM, Tri NH (2001) Costs and benefits of mangrove conservation and restoration In: Turner, R.K., Bateman, I.J., Adger, W.N (Eds.), Economics of Coastal and Water Resources: Valuing Environmental Functions View publication stats Alongi DM (2002) Present state and future of the world’s mangrove forests Environ Conserv 29, 331–349 Anand P (2006) Assessing vulnerability to climate change: The link between objectives and assessment, Current Science, 90(3): 376383 Andaman and Nicobar Islands Environment and Forest Department, (1997) Management Plan for Conservation of Mangrove in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, p 1- Badola R, Hussain SA (2005) Valuing ecosystem functions: an empirical study on the storm protection function of Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem, India Environ Conservation 32, 85–92 Barbier EB (2006) Natural barriers to natural disasters: replanting mangroves after the tsunami Frontiers Ecol Environ 4, 124–131 Dagar JC, Mongia AD, Bandyopadhyay AK (1991) Mangrove of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Oxford and IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd., New Delhi Duke NC, Meynecke JO, Dittmann S, Ellison AM, Anger K, Berger U, Cannicci S, Diele K, Ewel KC, Field CD, Koedam N, Lee SY, Marchand C, Nordhaus I, Dahdouh-Guebas F (2007) A world without mangroves? Science 317, 41–42 FAO (1994) Mangrove Forest Management Guidelines FAO Forestry Paper 117 FAO, Rome Government of India (1997) The State of Forest Report Forest Survey of India, p.5-6, 38 New Delhi, Ministry of Environment and Forests Government of India, ministry of Forest and Environment, Annual report (2001) IPCC (2001) Climate Change 2001 Synthesis Report A contribution of the working group I, II and III to the Third IUCN (2002) Climate Change Institute IUCN-The World Conservation Union Website 20/04/2002 James S, Jacobs (2002) Rehabilitation, conservation and sustainable utilization of mangroves in Egypt, FAO, Consultancy Report Kristensen E (2007) Mangrove crabs as ecosystem engineers, with emphasis on sediment processes J Sea Res 59, 30–43 Kristensen E, Bouillon S, Dittmar T, Marchand C (2008) Organic carbon dynamics in mangrove ecosystems: A review Aquat Bot 89, 201–219 Lee SY (2007) Mangrove macro benthos: assemblages, services, and linkages J Sea Res 59, 16–29 Mandal RN, Ghosh DC, Sarkar AK, Naskar KR (1995) New distributional record of Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea Gaertn F and Atalantia corea M Roem; from inter tidal mangrove forests of the Indian Sundarbans Journal of National Botanical Society 49: 71-74 Nagelkerken I, Blaber SJM, Bouillon S, Green P, Haywood M, Kirton LG, Meynecke JO, Pawlik J, Penrose HM, Sasekumar A, Somerfield PJ (2008) The habitat function of mangroves for terrestrial and marine fauna: A review Aquat Bot 89, 155–185 Naskar KR, Mandal RN (1999) Ecology and biodiversity of Indian mangroves, 1:3-348 Dehradun, India, Milton Book Company Naskar KR, Mandal RN, Sarkar D, Sen N, Sarkar AK (1997) Investigation on seedling development, vis-à-vis, plantation of Heritiera fomes Buch Ham Beyond the intertidal non-saline zones Journal Interacad 1: 177- 182 Saudamini D (2009) Can Mangroves Minimize Property Loss during Big Storms? An Analysis of House Damage due to the Super Cyclone in Orissa South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) PO Box 8975, EPC 1056 Kathmandu, Nepal SANDEE Working Paper No 42-09 Subhash C, Krishnan P, Dam R, Srivastava RC, Nagesh R, Kamal S (2011), impact of climate change on mangroves and adaptation strategies for livelihood security of coastal people in Bay islands, presented in International Conference on tropical Islands livelihood security, held at CARI, Port Blair during March Upadhyay VP, Ranjan R, Singh JS (2002) Human mangrove conflicts: The way out Current Science 83: 1328-1336