Context: The inter-tidal mudflats are one of the richest foraging grounds for migrant shorebirds along India’s west coast, and now, they are in danger of disappearing, because of both natural and anthropogenic factors

Key Issues

Shrinking Mudflat Ecosystem

• In the early 2000s, Kadalundi had 8 hectares of nutrient-rich mudflats, crucial for hosting migratory shorebirds.

• Current status: Only 1 hectare remains, and it is gradually being covered with sand.

Impact on Shorebirds

• Migrant shorebirds from colder climates, including Siberia, Ladakh, Mongolia, and Scotland, depend on the mudflats for prey like polychaetes and crustaceans.

• The reduction in mudflats threatens the availability of prey, impacting the birds’ migratory patterns.

Government Response

• Researchers, including T.R. Athira, C.T. Shifa, and K. Jishnu, have sought government intervention through memorandums to protect and restore the mudflat ecosystem.

• The response from the government has been passive, posing a significant challenge to the conservation efforts.

Key Solutions

Need for Protection and Restoration

• Urgent measures are required to protect and restore the mudflat ecosystem in Kadalundi to maintain its ecological balance and global significance.

• Government initiatives should focus on creating awareness and actively implementing conservation strategies.

Balancing Ecotourism and Conservation

• While efforts to promote ecotourism in the Kadalundi-Vallikunnu Community Reserve (KVCR) are commendable, they should be balanced with the conservation of the mudflat ecosystem.

• Sustainable practices in ecotourism can coexist with the preservation of critical habitats.

About Mudflats

Mudflats, or otherwise known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is left behind by tides or rivers. They’re found in sheltered regions such as bayous, lagoons, estuaries, and bays. Mudflats might be seen geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, a result from :

• the deposition of estuarine silts

• marine animal detritus

• clays

The majority of the sediment in a mudflat is within the intertidal zone, therefore the flat is submerged and exposed about twice per day.

Need for Mudflats conservation

• Vanishing of Mudflats: If the mudflats are not protected and restored, Kadalundi will vanish from the global map as a prominent destination of migrant shorebirds in a few years.

• Biodiversity conservation: It is the abundance of prey such as polychaetes and crustaceans in the mudflats that attract a wide variety of migrant shorebirds to Kadalundi from places such as Siberia, Ladakh, Mongolia, and Scotland.

Efforts to conserve mudflats

• Ecotourism: Efforts are on to popularise ecotourism in the Kadalundi-Vallikunnu Community Reserve (KVCR) by widening the expanse of mangroves.

• Encroaching mangroves: The 154-hectare KVCR had less than 50 hectares of mangroves until a few years ago, but these trees that thrive in salt water have proliferated so fast that they currently occupy more than 60 hectares.

• Decline in prey: The sedimentation of sand on mudflats not only brings down the amount of prey there, but also helps mangroves easily proliferate.

• Invasive Characteristics: The viviparous mangroves of Kadalundi, according to researchers, have been displaying an aggressively invasive behaviour.

• Mangrove vs Mudflat in carbon sequestration: The mangrove lobby has been raising carbon sequestration as the key environmental factor for its promotion. But people often underestimate the significance of soil and mud in carbon sequestration. Soil contains nearly twice the amount of carbon compared to the combination of the atmosphere, vegetation, and animals.

• Wetlands and grasslands: Studies show that wetlands and grasslands have the capacity to sequester more carbon than many types of forests.

About the Kadalundi

• The Kadalundi is a bird sanctuary spread over a group of islands in an area enclosed within the hillocks in the estuary of the Kadalundi River, which joins with the Arabian Sea.

• It is a littoral region which is home to nearly 60 species of birds, of which many are winter migrants, who comes to nest and breed.

• Kadalundi-Vallikunnu Regional Reserve is the first regional reserve in the state of Kerala. 

• Migrant species such as the lesser sand plover, greater sand plover, common sandpiper, whimbrel, Eurasian curlew, common redshank, common greenshank, Kentish plover, Terek sandpiper, dunlin, and sanderling forages during low tide. 

• The Kadalundi-Charyam-Beypore region together had trade relations with foreign countries such as Rome and Arabia. 

• Tindis was a major trade center between the Cheras and the Roman Empire, second only to Muziris.

Importance of Kadalundi

• The mangroves of Kadalundi never attract shorebirds coming from colder regions.

• They prefer open mudflats where they are safe from predators.

• When I started my research in 2005, we used to see large congregations of migrant species such as the lesser sand plover, greater sand plover, common sandpiper, whimbrel, Eurasian curlew, common redshank, common greenshank, Kentish plover, Terek sandpiper, dunlin, and sanderling foraging voraciously during low tide.

• But now the prey depletion, because of sandbanks and mangrove proliferation, is forcing them to stay away from the mudflats.

Road Ahead

• Tree plantation: Haphazard tree planting without proper understanding is never advisable.

• Holistic approach: It is crucial to adopt a holistic approach that prioritises the protection of intact ecosystems and focuses on restoring the functionality of degraded ecosystems.