India Joins the Mangrove Alliance for Climate: UPSC Daily Important Topic | 25 December 2022

India Joins the Mangrove Alliance for Climate-

✅Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) was inaugurated at the ongoing COP27 climate meetingin Egypt.

✅The move, in line with India’s goal to increase its carbon sink, will collaborate with Sri Lanka, Indonesia & other countries to preserve & restore the mangrove forests in the region.

● Mangrove forest in India:

✅India is home to one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world (the Sundarbans)

✅India has years of expertise in restoration of mangrove cover that can be used to aid global measures in this direction.

● Mangrove Alliance for Climate:

✅Initiative led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia,

✅Includes India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Japan, and Spain.

✅It seeks to educate and spread awareness worldwide on the role of mangroves in curbing global warming .

✅It will go a long way in driving collective climate action and rehabilitating blue carbon ecosystems .

● Global Mangrove Alliance report:

✅Mangroves are under  threat to human activities like industrial expansion & the building of roads and railways, as well as natural processes like shifting coastlines, coastal erosion, and storms.

✅Between 2010 and 2020, around 600 sq km of mangroves were lost, of which more than 62% was due to direct human impacts.