Mangrove buffer zone to help fight storms

A mass movement with 80% voluntary participation to create a mangrove buffer zone against recurring cyclones that are a harsh reality of the Indian Sundarbans is successfully underway, according to a Mongabay-India (MI) report.

As the MI report points out, the area experiences five to six cyclones annually. Over the last 40 years, the Bay of Bengal region has experienced 255 cyclonic storms ranging from low to severe categories. Cyclone intensity has increased over the last 100 years. Between 2019 and 2020, three cyclones impacted the Sundarbans, leading to hundreds of casualties and billions in economic damage. The most severe in recent history, Cyclone Amphan in May 2020, reportedly the first category five cyclone to affect the Sundarbans in two decades, had a major impact on India and Bangladesh with a loss of 128 lives and more than $13 million in damage.

So, when an opportunity to create a buffer against cyclones was presented to them, hundreds of women joined forces to set restoration efforts in motion. Determined women of Tridibnagar secured two kilometres of mud embankment while conserving 40 acres of pre-existing mangroves. Tridibnagar is in Jharkhali, a mid-estuarine island in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. Jharkhali is one of the entry points to the Sundarbans, a biodiversity hotspot considered one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the country.

Nearly 200,000 saplings were planted over five acres, based on traditional wisdom to mimic the diverse mangrove ecosystem, achieving a 95% survival rate. The plantation evolved into a mass movement and nearly every household today maintains a mangrove nursery, ensuring a steady supply of saplings for future restoration.

The project, therefore, transformed into a ‘community-led’ initiative – an example of effective application of restoration dynamics driven by a deep understanding of local stakeholder needs and a commitment to addressing their concerns while making it economical. The real challenges remained while conserving both restored and pre-existing forests. Village policies were established to prevent cattle grazing, increasing population pressure, and political interference, as MI reports.

The report adds that Tridibnagar’s story stands out as one of the few successful examples of mangrove restoration. The growing recognition of mangroves as effective natural climate solutions has generated significant global interest in their restoration. However, the track record remains fraught with costly failures. Data from the past 40 years indicate that 48.7% of restoration projects in South and Southeast Asian deltas have been unsuccessful, largely due to social, governance, and political constraints; biophysical limitations; and communication barriers. Efforts often fail under unrealistic targets and political pressure, leading to ambitious but poorly planned projects. Land conflicts and resource constraints frequently force restoration into biophysically unsuitable areas, where improper site selection, inadequate planting techniques, and monoculture practices further hinder resilience. Additionally, limited knowledge-sharing, inconsistent guidelines, and the absence of standard monitoring frameworks make it difficult to improve restoration strategies.

The challenges are exemplified by the West Bengal government’s ambitious Sundarbans mangrove restoration drive. The programme exceeded its target of 50 million, planting 123.77 million mangroves and mangrove-associated species, covering 4579 hectares.

The solution may lie in ‘decision science’, the MI report says, quoting a study published in the Ocean and Coastal Management journal. It advocates for a deeper integration of scientific and local knowledge, along with enhanced public awareness, to overcome social and governance barriers in mangrove restoration. Decision science is an interdisciplinary field that applies structured methodologies to help make informed, defensible, and participatory decisions where multiple stakeholders’ visions compete, which is common in restoration contexts. It involves the use of decision support frameworks and tools, such as analysis of restoration manuals detailing past project successes and failures, spatial analysis, predictive modelling, and stakeholder consultations, to guide conservation and restoration efforts. The study reviewed global research on mangrove restoration and noted a significant imbalance in restoration approaches. Ecological factors dominate the focus on restoration, while social dimensions such as community engagement, land tenure, and governance receive little attention. Economic considerations, such as cost-benefit analyses and market incentives for restoration, are largely neglected. This ecological bias means that many projects fail to address critical human-related challenges. Without integrating social and economic factors, restoration efforts risk being unsustainable in the long run.