The 2004 Tsunami made people realise that mangroves can serve as a reliable safety hedge against coastal calamities. How do mangroves function as a safety hedge?
- The mangrove swamps separate the human settlements from the sea by a wide zone in which people neither live nor venture out.
- The mangroves provide both food and medicines which people are in need of after any natural disaster.
- The mangrove trees are tall with dense canopies and serve as an excellent shelter during a cyclone or Tsunami.
- The mangrove trees do not get uprooted by storms and tides because of their extensive roots.
Explanation
Option (d) is correct
- Importance of mangroves:
- Mangroves (ecotone between land and sea) are highly productive ecosystems with rich biodiversity.
- They have a complex root system that is very efficient in dissipating the sea wave energy, thus protecting the coastal areas from tsunamis, storm surges (produced by cyclones) and soil erosion
- Mangroves slow down water flow and act as a zone of land accretion by enhancing sediment deposition.
- They moderate monsoonal tidal floods and reduce the inundation of coastal lowlands.
- They act as a riparian buffer and trap pollutants, including heavy metal contaminants. They enhance the natural recycling of nutrients.
- Mangroves are an essential carbon sink.
- They provide a safe and favourable environment for breeding, spawning, and rearing several fishes.
- They act as an essential source of livelihood for the coastal communities dependent on the collection of honey, tannins, wax, firewood, medicinal plants, edible plants, and fishing.
