Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes

Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes

Subject :Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Context: The Government announced a new scheme — ‘Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes’ (MISHTI) in the Union Budget under which plantation along the coastline will be taken up for which funds from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) will also be utilised.

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• Building on India’s success in afforestation, MISHTI will be taken up for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt pan lands, wherever feasible, through convergence between MGNREGS, CAMPA Fund, and other sources.
• The MISHTI comes after India joined the Mangrove Alliance for Climate launched during the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Egypt in November 2022.
• MISHTI could potentially attract private resources and carbon and biodiversity offsets.

Mangroves

• Mangroves cover only about 0.1 per cent of the planet’s surface. Yet, they can potentially store up to 10 times more carbon per hectare (ha) than terrestrial forests.
• In India, the total mangrove cover is 4,992 square kilometres, according to the 2021

Forest Survey Report (FSR).

• These plantations can protect coastal communities by acting as a natural barrier against storm surges, cyclonic activity.
• Mangroves are important nursery and breeding grounds for fish. Restoration projects worldwide can potentially lure the carbon offset market, which facilitates increased carbon credits trading.
• Threats: human activities such as the building of roads, railways and infrastructure projects, as well as shifting coastlines, coastal erosion and an increase in storms due to extreme weather events have all taken a toll on them.