Biodiversity board eyes heritage tag for Rann’s inland mangrove cluster

The GSBB had earlier identified the mangrove-laden riverine estuaries of Jalalpur in Navsari district as the first and,as yet,only biodiversity heritage site in Gujarat. It is awaiting notification.

The declaration of a biodiversity heritage site entails scientific research of the site and the implementation of a management plan to conserve it with the help of locals,among others.

The mangrove cluster covering less than a hectare at Shravan Kavadiya lies inside the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary and is considered unique,along with the Flamingo City that lies to its north.

“It is the only such site in the world,away and cut off from the sea. Amazingly,the Avicennia mangroves stand high in a cluster,resembling in height banyan trees and are dependent for their survival on the underground supply of saline water,which in turn is dependent on the annual influx from the (Arabian) sea,” wrote M K Ranjitsinh,Divyabhanusinh Chavda and Asad Rahmani,all members of the National Board for Wildlife,in a 2012 report.

They were investigating whether a proposed road through the Great Rann would be environmentally feasible.

The mangrove cluster has also been recognised as one of several “sacred groves” in India,revered by locals as places of religious importance.

“Even though the place is located more than 100 km from the coastal area,it has a mangrove area of 0.7 hectares near the temple ‘Shravan Kavadiya’. These inland mangroves were identified as temple forest and nobody cuts or causes any damage to very old tress of Avicennia in the groves,” said a 2008 report jointly prepared by the United Nations and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature for the Union environment ministry.