W(h)ither Kerala's mangroves

With mangroves in Kerala reducing to 25 sq.km from 700 sq.km in 1957, the efforts by a group of citizens to get remaining patches surveyed and government lands identified holds promise. More than half of the state’s mangrove patches stand on privately owned lands, and thereby conservation is difficult. While the private owners do not have an immediate economic benefit from conservation, the government finds it difficult to deal with private lands. However, even after the citizen’s group has helped government identify mangroves on their lands, the state machinery has not moved towards conservation. MORE … 

The mangrove-encrusted island in the Chettuva river.