Issues relating to bioshield
management
The experiences of the
community during the tsunami and
anecdotal evidences published in the
media about the role of mangroves
and non-mangrove coastal
vegetation in reducing the impact
of tsunami brought changes in the
mindset of coastal communities
and the attitude of government
agencies towards raising mangrove
and non-mangrove vegetation as
bioshields along coastal areas.
The fishing community, which is
normally reluctant to participate
in restoring, conserving, raising
mangrove and other coastal
vegetation programmes, now shows
lot of interest in restoring degraded
coastal vegetation as well as raising
plantations in new areas. This is
indicated by the demands of the
fishing community to government
agencies and non-governmental
organizations for raising mangrove
or other tree vegetation in suitable
places around their villages.
Similarly, administrators and
planners are willing to allot large
parcels of wasted lands including
saline affected areas to the coastal
community to raise tree plantations,
either mangroves or non-mangroves
trees, as a protective cover along
the coastal areas as a part of
disaster mitigation initiatives.
Considering all these, the coastal
bioshield movement was initiated
in 2005 by M.S.Swaminathan
Research Foundation, which was
subsequently followed by other
non-governmental agencies.
conducted in randomly selected
areas covering the entire coast of
Tamil Nadu. The study co