The 32.78 hectare area of Guneri village in Lakhtar tehsil of Kutch district has been declared as the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Gujarat. It is a natural inland mangrove site.
Key Highlights
- The declaration will ensure conservation and enrichment of the flora and fauna in the area through a management plan.
- A local Biodiversity Management Committee will manage the area which will include office bearers of local institute of self governance. The announcement has been done under the provisions of The Biodiversity Act, 2002.
- The Act empowers the state government to notify an area as a Biodiversity Heritage Site after consulting concerned local bodies.
- Inland mangroves are rare and have been reported from only eight locations across the globe till date. The Guneri inland mangrove site is the last remains of its kind in India.
- Mangroves are typically sighted at the sea coast which is sludgy and accessed by seawater at least once every day. However, the Guneri mangrove site is located at a distance of 45 km from the Arabian Sea and four km from the Kori Creek, where seawater never approaches.
- The Guneri inland mangroves are presumed to have originated long back. They are assumed to have originated either after the marine transgression which occurred in the area during the Miocene period or on the bank of the lost river (the Saraswati River) in the Great Rann of Kachchh.
(Source: Indian Express)
