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Ensuring the adaptive potential of Coastal wetlands of India- the need of the hour for sustainable management

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Abstract

India is endowed with a variety of coastal wetlands viz., mangroves, seagrasses, saltmarshes, coral reefs, lagoons and tidal flats, and the country is also a signatory to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Convention of Biological Diversity, besides having a robust framework of laws and policies, governing the wetland conservation. However, the conservation strategies can better be improved in the context of increasing pressures and threats and limited success of restoration/rehabilitation. Land conversion and ecological degradation of coastal wetlands are the stressors, associated with rapid coastal developmental activities and climate change. The coastal wetlands require desired habitat niche and hence, the conversion of coastal wetlands to other land uses (including agricultural and urban lands) may lead to permanent loss, whereas ecologically degraded coastal wetlands may be resilient if supported by effective protection measures. Preventing the habitat conversion and maximizing the adaptive potential (viz., the ability of populations or species to adapt to rapid environmental change with minimal disruption) by preserving the ecological health are the need of the hour to safeguard the existing coastal wetlands and sustain the provisional ecosystem services offered by them rather than short-term increase in area by unproductive restoration/rehabilitation efforts. Since coastal wetlands are flow through ecosystems, preserving the hydrological connectivity, facilitating the connectivity between adjacent ecosystems and protection of natural corridors are potential strategies that are required to enhance the adaptive potential of coastal wetlands. This analysis calls for site-specific, long-term and integrated ecosystem-based protection, management and rehabilitation strategies based on scientific principles and enforcing the effective legislative measures to regularize the coastal developmental activities in India.

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Acknowledgements

The first author acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), DST, New Delhi for funding under National Post-Doctoral Fellowship scheme to carry out the work. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their most constructive comments.

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Science and Engineering Research Board, DST, New Delhi, under National Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme (Sanction order No. PDF/2016/001668).

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Ragavan, P., Kathiresan, K., Mohan, P.M. et al. Ensuring the adaptive potential of Coastal wetlands of India- the need of the hour for sustainable management. Wetlands Ecol Manage 29, 641–652 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09742-z

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