Impact of Climate Change on Mangroves Ecosystem in South Asia

he project focuses on the impact of climate change on mangroves ecosystem as well as the socio-economic vulnerabilities of coastal communitiesin three South Asian countries, i.e. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The project provides an assessment on changing hydrologicalconditions and its resultant land cover changes through a temporal GIS/RS analysis. Addedto this the development of climate change scenarios for the study sites, environmental flows assessment, salinity distribution due to sea level rise (SLR) and institutional/policy analysiswere also carried out. We tried to answer some key questionsrelated to impacts and vulnerabilities of mangrove ecosystem and dependent communitiesby integratingthe community’s perceptions and experts’ opinion along with observed and projected climate change scenarios. Some importantquestions include: what are the likely drivers of sensitivityand exposure, how they are impacting, and how much is the coping potential of coastal communities in the backdrop of climate change? What should be the key adaptation options for minimizing climate change impacts and vulnerabilities? What should be the likely environmental flows to delta and mangrove ecosystems due to changes in river flows under climate change? Can institutions and current policies play an effective role in the protection of mangroves ecosystem resources?