A week ago cyclone BUL-BUL hit the Sagar island in the Indian Sundarbans at West Bengal. Many tourists who were stuck in the coastal are taken shelter under mangroves. What saved them from the cyclone with a speed of 130 kmph was mangrove forests.
Mangroves are small trees or shrubs that grow in coastal areas under saline or brackish water conditions. Every coastal state in our country has mangrove sites.
Mangroves act as a shield in coastal areas against cyclones, storms and rich in biodiversity. They provide an ideal breeding ground for turtles and fishes.
On the contrary, the State Government of West Bengal has been cutting mangrove trees on the name of development activities like allocation of houses, making roads, building embankments on coastal areas and aquaculture practices.
There was already a loss of 3.7% of mangrove forests in the Sundarbans area pointed out by ISRO satellite images.
It is sad to say that we are the only race on the earth that destroys its own habitat which protecting us on the name of development.
