Mangrove vegetation in over 200 acres in Kollam and Thrissur districts will be notified as Ecologically Fragile Land (EFL) soon.
While being notified under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act, compensation will be provided to their owners.
Mangrove stretches on Munro Island, Vincent and adjacent islands in the Neendakara region, Aayiramthengu, and patches in Aalumpadi-Pottasseri in Kollam, and areas near Poochapalli Palam, Chettuva and adjoining areas, and Gurushree in Thrissur have been identified as the priority areas for notification.
A team of conservation and revenue officials led by K. Sujanapal of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, prioritised the sites after considering factors such as density and biodiversity supported by the vegetation.
P.S. Easa, former director, Kerala Forest Research Institute; N. Mohanan, scientist at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram; K. Mahendran, Under Secretary, Revenue Department; and A. Shanavas, Assistant Conservator of Forest, are the members of the team which prioritised the sites.
Legal protection
Mangroves in the Kadalundi community reserve are the only ones that enjoy some level of legal protection.
While prioritising sites, the threat factors faced by the vegetation, its extent, scope for landscape-level conservation, and dependence of the local communities on them for livelihood were considered. Dr. Sujanapal said it would be the first time in the State that mangroves would be notified as EFL.
Kollam district, he said, was home to rare and threatened mangrove species such as Lumnitzera racemosa , which was restricted to a few patches in Aayiramthengu, Munro Island and the Asramam area. Ceriops tagal , which was considered extinct on the Kerala coast, was rediscovered on Vincent Island recently.
Though mangrove habitats in the district had largely been destroyed, there were signs of regeneration in some areas, he said.
Most mangrove areas in the district were highly fragmented owing to large-scale anthropogenic interference. Hence, it was difficult to demarcate a patch of pure mangrove vegetation, he said.
In Thrissur, mangroves were found regenerating in most of the disturbed habitats. Yet, the increased anthropogenic interference was restricting them from achieving specific growth and structure. Habitat conversion was a major threat to the vegetation, Dr. Sujanapal said.
Revenue land that lay between mangrove patches would also be acquired as part of the landscape-level conservation drive, he said.
