KARACHI, May 22: The Sindh Coastal Development Authority (SCDA) has prepared a plan for the replanting of mangroves across the 8,000 hectares of Indus Delta region, stretched over Karachi, Shah Bandar and Keti Bundar, with an estimated cost of Rs100 million, it is learnt.

The plan has been submitted to the competent authority for approval.

According to sources in SCDA, the plan is aimed at rejuvenate the mangroves forests facing rapid destruction in the region as the situation is feared to cause irreparable losses to the national exchequer.

Remedial measures on war-footing are required to be taken because the hyper saline conditions in the coastal belt are resulting in gradual destruction of ecology. Salinity has been caused by the non-release of Indus water into the sea over the past several years, badly affecting this largest area of arid climate mangroves.

The Indus Delta mangroves forest is spread over an area of approximately 600 million square metres between Karachi and the country’s border with India. The Indus and its delta have 16 major creeks and extensive mudflats. The delta is about 200 kilometres long and 50 kilometres wide.

Stressing on the urgency of remedial measures and practical efforts, the sources referred to the satellite images of the region taken in the recent past which showed that about 1,850 million square metres of the delta, once fully covered with mangroves, faced widespread degeneration. Especially the lands around Keti Bandar and Shah Bandar are left with only 1,000 square metres of mangroves forests in just a decade or so.

As these mangroves and their environment were the natural nurseries of shrimp and a number of fish species, sources said, their depletion had ultimately hampered production and growth of these species.

In this context, they made mention of Palla and Danger, the precious fish species whose annual catch till 1986 was 600 tons but has reduced to 200 tons now. Similarly, the annual average catch of shrimp, a most valuable item, was 27,541 tons (97 per cent of the total catch at national level), but has now reduced to 92 per cent.

It has also been noticed that cutting of wood and timber, for different purposes, like consumption as fuel, manufacturing furniture and other items, feeding animals as fodder, etc., as well as industrial effluent to some extent, could also be the reason for gradual devastation of the mangroves forests.

In addition to the re-plantation plan, the SCD has also sent a proposal for planting of salt resistant tree species in the coastal zone of Sindh with an estimated cost of Rs25 million. The main objective is to reclaim the degraded and saline land in the coastal belt.

The sources disclosed that the plantation would, in turn, reduce water-table, restore productivity of degraded lands, build up tree resources for bridging the gap between demand and supply of wood and timber for different purposes.

It will also produce raw material for the wood-based industries in Sindh and other provinces to help generate employment opportunities and improve the standard of life in rural areas. It will also prove helpful in not only checking the desertification but also reverse the process.

The project also envisages massive plantation of drought and salt resistant tree species on private lands across the coastal zone, keeping in view that the degradation of the lands, particularly at the tail-end was result of the shortage of irrigation water.

The scope of the project is not limited to forest sector alone, but it covers other sectors such it would indirectly give a boost to agriculture, irrigation management, environment, energy, wood industry and rural development in Sindh.