ABSTRACT
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the eminent agricultural scientist of India, described a case where science-illuminated resource management brought about profound improvement in the quality of life of a community (The Hindu, May 22, 2010). The mangroves of Pichavaram, Tamilnadu, India, came into the public eye when it
was realized that the mangroves saved the fishermen community of Pichavaram from the fury of the Indian Ocean tsunami of Dec. 2004, by serving as speed-breakers. The fishermen were extremely poor and did not have proper nets. The children do not go to school, for the simple reason that there is no school in the neighbourhood. They were not receiving government benefits that are given to Scheduled Castes and Tribes, as the bureaucracy was not sure where they stand in the caste hierarchy. Swaminathan got these questions sorted out. A primary school was established with the help of some donors. Swaminathan makes a profound observation: “Saving mangrove forests without saving the children for whose well-being the forests are being saved, makes no sense’’. After the 2004 tsunami, the government constructed brickbuilt houses for the community. There is now a secondary school in Pichavaram. The fishermen now know the value of the mangroves – how the root exudates enriches water with nutrients, and thereby help in augmenting the fisheries, and how the mangroves protect the coastal waters from salinization. Mangroves are known to have a genetic element which enables them to grow in salt water. MSSRF, the research institute built by Swaminathan, uses this genetic element to create new varieties of salt-tolerant paddy and other crops. Such salt-tolerant crops will become very useful when the coastal soils get salinized due to sealevel rise consequent upon global warming. As against this, wrong practices caused by the ignorance of the importance of sym-
biosis between mangroves and man led to horrendous degradation of the environment in Quelimane, Mozambique. The uncontrolled cutting down of mangrove trees for
fuelwood, timber and coffins, led to extensive, irreversible salinization of coastal waters and soils. Mangroves grow slowly – it may take about 20 years for mangroves to grow to a height of 10m. Though copious groundwater is available at depth of one metre, it is brackish and is not potable. Coconut trees seem to have a beneficial effect on the quality of groundwater. When groundwater is drawn from ponds within clusters of coconut trees, the water is less brackish. The soils have been so degraded that a large area of about a thousand hectares has become a saline waste. People defecate in the mangroves as they do not have latrines, and the faeces end up in fish, which are eaten by people. When there is a cholera epidemic, the cholera-contaminated faeces end up in fish, which are consumed by the people, and a cycle gets triggered with tragic consequences. After a study of the situation, the author came up with a science-illuminated strategy
to reverse the degradation, whereby the cutting down of mangroves is avoided. Salttolerant paddy varieties are to be grown in the salinized soils. Fish spawn is put in the paddy fields. The fish eat the dead paddy leaves, and the droppings of fish fertilize the soil. When the paddy is harvested, the fish are harvested along with it. Fast-growing, salt-tolerant casuarinas trees are planted along the bunds of the paddy fields (casuarina trees grow to a height of 10m in five years). The renovated ecosystem will then be able to provide food (paddy and fish) and fuelwood and timber for house construction.
