The mangrove forest in India has the form of an evergreen closed high forest that can reach 30 m or more in height. It consists primarily of Heritiera sp. or, less commonly, of Bruguiera sp. There may be an underwood, of the same species, or of others such as Ceriops sp.. This two-storied forest type is of common occurrence due to the prevalence of trees whose maximum height is only 5-10 m mixed with others capable of further development. Rhizophora sp. replaces Heritiera sp. nearer to the sea. There are a few other genera, each usually with several species particularly adapted to the unusual conditions, such as Sonneratia, Avicennia, and Excoecaria. Shrubs and palms are few, Acanthus sp. and Nypa fructicans being the most common. The type occurs in the delta of the Ganga and Brahamaputra west of Raimangal branch. There are considerable areas in the estuaries of short rivers on the East Coast and very little on the West Coast. There are remnants in the estuaries of the Mahanadi, Krishna and Godavari rivers.
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resourcess Assesment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. FAO, UNEP, 475 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1957 |
638 818 |
Waheed Khan. 1957. |
Cited in: Chaudhuri, A.B. and Choudhury, A. 1994. Mangroves of the Sundarbans. Vol. 1. India. The IUCN Wetlands Programme. Bangkok, Thailand, IUCN. This figure could include also water. | |
1957 |
571 808 |
Mathauda, G.S. 1957. The mangrove of India. In Proceedings of the Mangrove Symposium. p. 66-97. Calcutta. |
Cited in: Chaudhuri, A.B. and Choudhury, A. 1994. Mangroves of the Sundarbans. Vol. 1. India. The IUCN Wetlands Programme. The breakdown is provided. | |
1963 |
681 976 |
Sidhu. 1963. Studies on Mangrove. National Accademy of Sciences.Vol 33b Part 1. p. 129-136. |
Cited in: FAO. 1982. Management and utilization of mangroves in Asia and the Pacific. FAO Environment Paper 3. 160 pp. This extent includes also water. | |
1975 |
356 500 |
Blasco, F. 1975. The Mangroves of India. Institut Francais de Pondichery. Pondichery. |
Cited in: FAO. 1982. Management and utilization of mangroves in Asia and the Pacific. FAO Environment Paper 3. 160 pp. | |
1975 |
1 400 700 |
World Bank/WCMC/ABC. 1998 MacKinnon, J. ed. Protected Areas Systems Review of the Indo-Malayan Realm. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge. |
Digitized from general lines drawn on the 'Atlas of Forest Resources of India' at | |
1980 |
91 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resourcess Assesment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. FAO, UNEP, 475 pp. |
Based on the information provided by Champion, H.G. and Seth, S.K. 1968. A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India. Publication Division, Government of India - Delhi. Anon. 1976. Atlas of Forest Resources of India. National Atlas Organization. Calcutta. The area has been updated to year 1980 on the basis of annual deforestation rate. | |
1980 |
506 702 |
FAO, 2002. Ibid |
X |
All the most reliable information available per province has been analysed and processed through the regression analysis. The 1980 figures obtained for each region have been used. |
1982 |
404 600 |
Forest Survey of India. 1987. The state of Forest Report 1987 |
Remote sensing. | |
1982 |
355 000 |
Gopal B., Turner R.E., Wetzel RG and Whigham D.F. eds. 1982. Wetlands ecology and management. National Institute of Ecology and International Scientific Publications, New Delhi, India |
Cited in: Spiers, A.G. 2001. Review of international/continental wetland resources. Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist | |
1983 |
96 000 |
Wacharakitty, S. 1983. Mangrove Ecosystem in General. In: ESCAP/UNESCO/NRCT Regional Remote Sensing Training Course of Mangrove Ecosystem. p. 22-33. Bangkok, Nov. 28-Dec. 16 1983 |
Cited in: FAO. 1994. Mangrove forest management guidelines. FAO Forestry Paper 117. Rome, 319 pp. | |
1987 |
674 000 |
Government of India. 1987. Mangroves in India. Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests, New Delhi. 150 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1987 |
420 000 |
Jagtap, T.G., Chavan, V.S. and Untawale, A.G. 1993. Mangrove Ecosystem of India: A need for Protection. Ambio 22 (4). |
Remote sensing. | |
1988 |
424 400 |
Forest Survey of India. 1991. The State of Forest Report 1991. |
Remote sensing. | |
1991 |
303 500 |
World Bank/WCMC/ABC. 1998 MacKinnon, J. ed. Protected Areas Systems Review of the Indo-Malayan Realm. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge. |
Data from The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests. | |
1993 |
447 400 |
Nayak, S. 1993. Role of Remote Sensing Application in the management of wetland ecosystems with special emphasis on Mangroves. Lecture delivered at the UNESCO Curriculum Workshop on Management of mangrove Ecosystem and Coastal Ecosystem, Department of Marine Living Resource, Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam |
Remote sensing. | |
1994 |
482 700 |
Forest Survey of India. 1998. The State of Forest Report 1997 |
X |
Remote sensing |
1995 |
537 900 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
Map analysis. Scale 1:1 000 000. According to the authors, the estimate by WWF-India personal communication (670 000 ha) is likely to be more accurate. | |
1996 |
400 000 |
WRI, UNEP, UNDP, The World Bank. 1996. World Resources 1996-1997. New York and Oxford University Press 365 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. It is probably an approximate figure. | |
1997 |
485 000 |
Anon. 1997. Status of forest cover. Forest Survey of India, Dehra Dun. |
Cited in: Singh, H.S. 2001. Mangroves in Gujarat on path of recovery - A success story. Indian Forester, April 2001. | |
1997 |
487 100 |
Forest Survey of India. 1999. The State of Forest Report 1999. |
X |
Remote sensing |
2000 |
670 000 |
Aizpuru, M., Achard, F., and Blasco, F. 2000. Global Assessment of Cover Change of the Mangrove Forests using satellite imagery at medium to high resolution. In EEC Research project n 15017-1999-05 FIED ISP FR – Joint Research center, Ispra. |
National level estimate based on extrapolation of a remote sensing case study for Ganges and literature review. |