Conservation, rehabilitation of mangroves stressed

The environmentalists have stressed the need for future strategy for development, conservation and rehabilitation of Indus delta mangrove forests.
Speaking at the concluding session of the two-day national seminar on "Indus delta mangrove ecosystem", on Wednesday they advocated effective management, promotion of eco-tourism, advocacy and lobbying for ensuring optimal fresh water supply from Indus river and stringent law for preventing mangrove destruction.
The programme, organised by Sindh Forest Department, was addressed by eminent foresters, scientists and environmentalists.
The speakers were unanimous in their opinion that across the board awareness among the masses as how these forests were actually protecting them against looming global warming threat besides acting as a cost effective source of livelihood for a large majority of locals can efficiently help safeguarding the treasure spread across the 600,000 acres area from Karachi to Sir Creek, near the Indian border.
Zulfiqar Ali Memon of Coastal Forest Division, discussing the Indus delta mangroves and the role of forest department, said the area of mangroves with the department was 280,470 hectares with status of "protected forests."
He said that for scientific management of this vital natural resources, two management plans were also prepared, while various stakeholders were co-ordinated to formulate strategies to protect this fragile ecosystem.
He said that development projects were in process to increase mangrove tree cover and their density. For species diversity, "Rhizophora mucronata" was reintroduced in the delta, growing well along with Avicennia marina, the dominant species of the delta.
Discussing rationale for restoration of mangrove ecosystems in Pakistan, eminent expert of IUCN Muhammad Tahir Qureshi underlined the importance of mangroves as sanctuary for migratory birds and for protection of Karachi port and Bin Qasim against salutation. Citing example of successful re-plantation of Rhizophora mucronata, he said that main rationale of mangrove restoration along the coast of Pakistan was to maintain a contribution to the national economy.
He stated that rehabilitation of mangrove forests had also protected parts of coast from cyclone, hurricane and other calamities, adding: "Under forestation programmes, many exotic and indigenous species were tried to introduce on experimental basis".
About monitoring of mangrove ecosystem through satellite remote sensing (SRS) & GIS techniques, Mehrunnisa Siddiqi from SUPARCO said that SRS and GIS-based techniques were being employed in monitoring and mapping of mangrove forests and found extremely useful in providing information on marine environment.
A case study of community-based natural resources management was presented by Ejaz Ahmed of WWF-Pakistan.
He argued that bottom-up approaches were useful and effective in the management of natural resources, as they encouraged building community ownership of natural resources and a responsibility for them in managing their livelihood resources.
Other speakers were Fehmida Firdous, Najamuddin R. Vistro, Naureen Qureshi, Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, R.Y Usmani and Dr G. R. Kheerio.