A pressing concern that has been brought to the public’s attention as of recent is the plight befallen upon our island’s mangroves.
Considering the endangered status of mangroves, Eastern University Department of Botany Senior Lecturer Dr. T. Mathiventhan, who is also part of Sri Lanka’s National Expert Committee on Mangrove Conservation, shared that there are several action plans being formulated in order to address this issue.
Dr. Mathiventhan said that mangroves are a characteristic of natural wetlands. Wetlands could be of two types, namely natural and artificial. Natural wetlands include rivers, lakes, estuaries, swamps, tidal flats, coral reefs, and mangroves.
He stated that disasters, both natural and manmade, and development caused not only a decrease in the mangrove ecosystem but also fragmented the available system – which has a series of cumulative negative impacts over time, especially on the sub category of urban wetlands. Urban wetlands are said to provide a variety of benefits and services to the community.
They provide a habitat for plants and animals and also provide water storage, improve water quality, and reduce pollution. Additionally, they protect against natural hazards, slowing floodwaters, reducing the risk of fire, and protecting against erosion of river banks and coastlines. Wetlands can also contribute to the wellbeing of the community, as associated vegetation can provide a cooling effect to surrounding areas and also moderate strong winds. They also provide easily accessible educational and research opportunities to learn about the environment.
He shared that unfortunately, despite the multitude of its benefits, human-driven activities often hamper the hydrological continuity of the mangrove wetland and will be challenging to the existence of the mangroves. He said an example of the adverse nature of the current effects can be seen in the estimated 321 hectares of mangrove (about 15-20% of the total) that have been cleared around the Batticaloa estuary over the past two decades.
Dr. Mathiventhan shared that an undisturbed urban (mangrove) wetland is a sign of good health because of its diversity of species, structural complexity, functional integration, and resistance to external forces (resilience). When the disturbances are more than the resilient capacity of the wetland, then the health will deteriorate and the function will degrade, thus affecting the regional environment. 
Therefore, he said that it is our obligation to conserve the valuable wetlands, especially the urban wetlands for future generations, and at present, there are some procedures in place to do so. He added that they have identified certain areas that can improve the state of affairs, including developing a national policy for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of urban mangroves, wetlands, and ecosystems, for which Sri Lanka has devised the “National Policy on Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation of Mangrove Ecosystems” (published in January 2020). There are other relevant national policies (related with mangroves) including the National Forest Policy (1995), National Wildlife Policy (2000), National Environment Policy (2003), National Policy on Wetlands (2006), National Climate Change Policy (2012), and National Policy on Invasive Alien Species (2016).
He pointed out that in addition to the policies, there are procedures in place for the protection of mangrove habitats coming under the National Environmental Act, Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, Forest Conservation Ordinance, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, National Heritage Wilderness Areas Act, and the Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management Act.
There are also forestry sector mitigation strategies which include increasing the forest cover of Sri Lanka from 29% to 32% by 2030, improving the quality of the growing stock of natural forest and forest plantations, and restoring degraded forests and hilltops.
Dr. Mathiventhan shared that there is an established mangrove task force inclusive of 12 members representing government, non-government organisations, and academia, which is in addition to the “National Expert Committee on Mangrove Conservation and Sustainable Use”.
He also shared that there have been collaborative efforts made throughout the years, making note of the Australia-Sri Lanka Blue Carbon Technical Scoping Workshop (3-4 October 2019) where regional scientific experts and government policymakers took part in a series of technical and policy workshops, and discussed future collaboration with agreement on an outcomes statement to advocate to their respective governments and scientific communities in eight priority areas in the management of coastal blue carbon ecosystems (including mangroves). And also, the Commonwealth Blue Charter: Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihoods Action Group (MELAG); the Commonwealth Blue Charter being an agreement by all 53 Commonwealth countries to actively co-operate to solve ocean-related problems and meet commitments for sustainable ocean development.
He said that the Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Groups are member-driven, led by “champion” countries. Adding that Sri Lanka champions the MELAG, he said the MELAG shares best practices and promotes mutual co-operation in the conservation and sustainable utilisation of mangroves, to realise the ecosystem services and sustainable livelihood opportunities they can provide.
There are several other steps taken he said, particularly headed by the Ministry of Environment, including the national guidelines for restoration of mangrove ecosystems courtesy of the Ministry, including also a book to be published titled “The Mangroves of Sri Lanka”, and finally regional awareness workshops are also in the works, to be conducted on the importance and conservation of mangroves.