India invests heavily in mangrove plantations, but success is still often measured by saplings planted and area covered.
The article argues that plantations should be evaluated by long-term ecological outcomes, including survival, natural regeneration, biodiversity, carbon storage and ecosystem services.
A 200-hectare mangrove plantation at Sat Saida Bet in Kachchh shows how long-term scientific monitoring can turn a plantation into a blue carbon asset.
The site, dominated by Avicennia marina, stores about 21,156 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to nearly 77,623 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Every year, India invests significant resources in planting thousands of hectares of mangroves along its coastline. Yet one important question is rarely asked: how many of these plantations actually become healthy mangrove forests?
For decades, the success of plantation programmes has been measured by the number of saplings planted and the area covered. These figures are easy to report, but reveal little about whether plantations survive, support biodiversity, strengthen coastal livelihoods or contribute meaningfully to climate action. Planting is only the beginning. The real measure of success lies in what happens long after the saplings are planted.
This question has become increasingly important as climate change reshapes India’s coastline. Rising sea levels, stronger cyclones, coastal erosion and habitat degradation threaten fragile ecosystems as well as the millions of people who depend on them.
Governments continue to invest heavily in seawalls, embankments and other engineered coastal protection structures. But healthy mangrove forests also provide powerful natural protection. They reduce wave energy, stabilise shorelines, improve water quality, sustain fisheries, conserve biodiversity and store large quantities of atmospheric carbon.
Unlike terrestrial forests, much of this carbon is locked below ground in waterlogged sediments, creating what scientists recognise as blue carbon ecosystems. Protecting and expanding mangroves is therefore not only an environmental responsibility, but also an investment in climate resilience, sustainable development and the well-being of coastal communities.
India has rightly recognised the importance of coastal ecosystems through its climate commitments, biodiversity conservation efforts and Blue Economy initiatives. However, if mangrove plantation programmes are to become genuine climate investments, the way they are evaluated must change.
Counting saplings or reporting plantation area cannot remain the ultimate measure of success. Without measuring long-term ecological outcomes, plantation targets risk becoming statistics rather than indicators of environmental recovery. Survival, natural regeneration, biodiversity growth, carbon storage and ecosystem services are the indicators that show whether a plantation has achieved its purpose.
One project from the arid coast of Kachchh in Gujarat shows why this shift is necessary. In 2013, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited entrusted the Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, Bhuj, with establishing a 200-hectare mangrove plantation at Sat Saida Bet. Gujarat’s highly saline and arid coastline makes successful mangrove planting particularly challenging, making this site an important case for long-term evaluation.
Unlike many plantation programmes that end soon after planting, this initiative continued with nearly a decade of scientific monitoring. It provides rare evidence of how planted mangroves perform over time.
This long-term commitment distinguishes the project from many plantation efforts across India. Too often, monitoring ends after sapling survival is recorded in the first few years. Very few sites are revisited after five or 10 years to assess whether the mangroves have matured, whether natural regeneration has begun or whether they are delivering measurable ecological benefits.
Without such monitoring, it is impossible to know whether plantation programmes are producing lasting environmental, social and climate benefits, or merely meeting short-term planting targets.
The findings from Sat Saida Bet are encouraging. After nearly a decade, the planted mangroves had developed into a healthy stand dominated by Avicennia marina. The site showed sustained growth and extensive natural regeneration through the recruitment of young seedlings. These are precisely the kinds of outcomes that annual plantation statistics cannot capture.
Perhaps the most significant outcome of the long-term monitoring relates to blue carbon.
Around the world, countries are beginning to recognise blue carbon ecosystems as valuable natural climate assets. Mangroves are increasingly being incorporated into national climate strategies, carbon accounting and ecosystem-based adaptation programmes.
India has one of the world’s largest mangrove resources, yet the potential of scientifically monitored mangrove plantations to contribute to climate mitigation remains underappreciated.
The long-term monitoring at Sat Saida Bet estimated that the 200-hectare mangrove ecosystem established through this plantation stores about 21,156 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to nearly 77,623 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Most of this carbon is stored below ground in mangrove sediments rather than in the trees themselves. This shows why protecting mangrove soils is as important as protecting the vegetation above them. Disturbance through dredging, reclamation or poorly planned coastal development could release decades of accumulated carbon back into the atmosphere.
The significance of these findings extends beyond carbon accounting. Healthy mangrove forests reduce coastal erosion, buffer storm surges, improve fisheries productivity and provide breeding and nursery habitats for commercially important fish, crustaceans and molluscs that support thousands of coastal households.
Investments in scientifically planned and carefully monitored mangrove plantations can therefore strengthen biodiversity conservation, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods at the same time.
The Sat Saida Bet experience also shows what can be achieved when industry and scientific institutions work together over the long term. Similar partnerships could improve the effectiveness of mangrove plantation programmes across India.
As India pursues its net-zero commitment, expands its Blue Economy and strengthens coastal resilience, mangrove plantations should no longer be treated as one-time environmental activities. They should be recognised as long-term natural infrastructure that requires scientific monitoring, protection and adaptive management.
Planting mangroves is only the first step. The true success of a plantation is measured not by the number of saplings planted, but by the healthy forests they become.
If India is serious about strengthening climate resilience along its coastline, it must evaluate plantation programmes by ecological outcomes rather than planting targets. The experience at Sat Saida Bet shows that when scientific planning is matched with long-term monitoring and commitment, mangrove plantations can become enduring natural assets for biodiversity, coastal communities and climate action.
G Jayanthi is scientist, environmental monitoring and assessment division, Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth