Discuss the significance of mangrove ecosystems for coastal resilience in India. Critically evaluate the implementation strategy of the MISHTI scheme.

Mangroves are salt-tolerant intertidal forests that form India's first line of defence along a cyclone-prone coastline. Recognising this, the Union Budget 2023-24 announced MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes), launched on World Environment Day, 5 June 2023 [1]. Its design is sound in intent, but convergence-based delivery limits its depth.

Significance for coastal resilience

• Storm-surge buffer: dense root systems absorb wave energy, protecting shorelines and settlements during cyclones — the rationale for MISHTI's shoreline-protection objective [2].
• Blue carbon sink: mangroves sequester carbon at high densities, supporting India's climate-adaptation and mitigation commitments [2].
• Livelihood security: they serve as fish nurseries; MISHTI's "Tangible Incomes" component links restoration to fisheries, seaweed cultivation and ecotourism for coastal communities [2][3].
• Ecological stabilisation: they check salinity ingress and erosion in fragile tracts like Gujarat's Kori Creek in Kachchh, where site-specific restoration has been adopted [3].

Evaluating MISHTI's implementation strategy — merits

• Scale with realism: ~540 sq. km targeted across coastal States and UTs over 2023-24 to 2027-28, giving a measurable five-year horizon [1].
• Convergence financing through CAMPA, MGNREGS and State Plans avoids duplication and injects wage employment into restoration [1].
• Decentralised review: national and state workshops — Vijayawada (January 2026) and Bhuj — involve forest departments, National CAMPA, PRIs and community bodies, enabling course correction [3][4].
• Demonstrated progress: Gujarat reported restoration well advanced against its 2023-27 target [3].

Limitations

• Absence of a dedicated budget line makes funding hostage to CAMPA balances and MGNREGS labour cycles.
• Inter-ministerial and Centre-State coordination costs are high; plantation survival rates, not hectares planted, remain the weaker metric.
• Industrial and port pressures on coastal zones continue alongside restoration.

MISHTI rightly reframes mangroves as both ecological infrastructure and livelihood assets. Shifting evaluation from area covered to survival-audited, community-owned restoration — with a stable funding window — would let it deliver on SDG 13 and 14 and on Article 48A's mandate to protect the environment.