Does mangrove plantation reduce coastal erosion? Assessment from the west coast of India
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Does mangrove plantation reduce coastal erosion? Assessment from the west coast of India Saudamini Das 1 Received: 23 July 2019 / Accepted: 28 March 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Mangroves are believed to stabilize the coastlines by controlling erosion and facilitating sediment deposition. Coastal managers often plant mangroves to counter coastal erosion. The state of Gujarat in West India has planted thousands of hectares of mangroves over the years, and control of coastal erosion has been one of the prime reasons of plantation. This study performed a statistical assessment of the effect of the planted mangroves on the coastline changes in the state from 1990 to 2013. The study utilized geographic information system and remote sensing data to demarcate the areas under erosion and accretion during this period, and then compared these changes with the change in mangrove cover using statistical models. This cross-sectional analysis was conducted at the level of a tehsil, an administrative unit below a district. The results show that mangrove plantation did not decrease erosion, not even after normalizing the coastline changes by the length of the coastline and using controls for physical and anthropogenic features of the tehsils. Tehsils with increased mangrove cover witnessed both increased erosion and accretion, although the latter was much higher. The geophysical features of the area appeared to be the main determinants of coastline changes in Gujarat. Keywords Planted mangroves . Erosion . Accretion . Coastline change . Coastal protection . Gujarat
Introduction The mangrove ecosystem provides coastal protection services in different forms, e.g., protection during extreme events by influencing storm surge and wind (Das and Crépin 2013; McIvor et al. 2012; Das and Vincent 2009), protection of coastal assets such as bunds by influencing wave activity (Othman 1994), and coastline stabilization by reducing erosion through wave reduction and sediment accretion (Winterwerp et al. 2005; Mazda et al. 2002; Furukawa et al. 1997; Mazda et al. 1997). 1 A meta-analysis of wave 1 For a detailed discussion on the role of coastal forest on coastline erosion, see http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ag127e/AG127E09.htm, accessed on 16 March 2020.
Communicated by Anne Bousquet-Melou Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01637-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Saudamini Das [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi Enclave, Room 209, North Campus, Delhi 110007, India
attenuation data has shown that mangroves provide contextdependent but effective protection from erosion and waves (Gedan et al. 2011); they act as a strong wall that breaks high waves and prevents the water from entering the land area at high velocity and washing away the soil. Seafront mangroves species, especially those belonging to the genus R
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