The term maritime security essentially implies being safe against all forms of sea based threats, including threats from non-state actors and the conventional state based forces. The concept is not only vast but multidimensional. It spans conventional maritime security issues, like state sovereignty concerns, territorial disputes, to more non-traditional maritime security problems such as piracy, terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking. On flip side, maritime security also embraces coastal security, environmental and nature (sustainability) related issues such as pollution, illegal fishing etc.
The term mangrove refers to a tidal influenced wetland ecosystem within the intertidal zone including trees, shrubs, palms and epiphytes. Mangrove grows in dense thickets or forests along tidal estuaries, in salt marshes and in muddy coasts. The term mangrove also applies to thickets and forests of such plants. The trunks and branches of the common mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) constantly produce adventitious roots, which descending in arched fashion, strike at some distance from parent stem and send up new trunks. While the fruit is still attached to the parent branch, the long embryonic root emerges from the seed and grows rapidly downward. When the seed falls, the young root is in correct position to be driven into the mud; the plant being thus rooted, the shoot makes its appearance. The common mangrove grows to about 9 metres (30 feet) tall. The leaves are 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 inches)long, opposite, oval or elliptic and smooth edged; they are thick, heavy leathery surfaces and are borne in short stems. The flowers are pale yellow.
There are nine different species of mangrove that have been observed to grow on the sea shores of Pakistan. With proper management, one hectare of mangrove can produce an estimated annual yield of 100 kg of fish, 25 kg of shrimps, nearly 15 kg of crab meat besides 40 kg of sea cucumbers. Additionally, a mangrove forest can be indirect support source for over 400 kg of fish and 75 kg of shrimp in off-shore areas. The mangrove trees are also used for boat manufacturing, house building as poles, furniture and coal production.
Pakistan has a coastline that extends more than 1000 km between the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. With a lion’s share, Balochistan has 734.5 km long coastline while Sindh coast is 266.5 km. The economy and livelihood of coastal communities in Pakistan are directly tied to their immediate environment. Once upon a time Pakistan had mangrove forests that covered almost 400,000 hectares, the largest in the region. By 2005 this area plummeted to only 96,000 hectares owing to chopping and pollution. In 2013 the Sindh government forest department with the help of volunteers made an attempt for the comeback of mangrove. A record 798,775 mangrove saplings were planted in a single day in Thatta district of Indus delta. A community centric project funded by Asian Development Bank, the effort aimed to reduce abject poverty and rehabilitate ecological system along the coastline of Sindh. Sadly, the effort proved too little too late. By last year (2015) the mangrove area had fallen to 70,000 hectares. More recently almost 205 acres of mangrove forest was razed to make way for coal fired plants in Karachi.
The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) estimates that mangrove trees play a critical role in buffering the coastline from erosion caused by waves and storms. Mangrove trees cannot stop cyclones and tsunamis. Instead they act as the first line of defence against these natural calamities.
Karachi is regarded as the Pakistan’s economic back bone. The city receives almost a million migrants every year and generates roughly 42 percent of the country’s total GDP. It also produces nearly half of Pakistan’s tax revenues. But according to recent international reports, in terms of climate change and environmental erosion Karachi is believed to be the greatest security threat facing Pakistan today. The city is just next to the Indus delta where the river Indus finally spills into the Arabian Sea.
Due to land subsidence (a phenomenon resulting in settling or sudden sinking of the earth’s surface when large quantities of ground water, oil, gas etc. are extracted) exacerbated further by rising sea levels, the Indus delta is now almost at level with the Arabian Sea. Globally sea rise averages 1.8mm/yr but sinking of Indus delta at some places is almost 800mm/yr. This threatens the stability of ecosystem since it leads to land erosion and increase in salinity of creeks flowing from the Indus. The situation creates an environment detrimental to aquatic creatures and mangrove trees that depend on fresh water.
In a seminar held recently at Karachi under arrangements of National Institute of Oceanography, experts warned that sea intrusion along with sinking of Indus delta due to land subsidence presents a serious threat to Pakistan’s coastline. According to reliable reports, the Sindh coast has retreated by as much as 2.1 km over the past three decades.
Last year, the United Nations conducted a drill simulating a major earthquake in the Indian Ocean. The exercise was based on hypothetical 9.0 magnitude earthquake in the Makran Trench, where the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet off the coast of Pakistan which could trigger a catastrophic tsunami. It was concluded that the deadly waves could reach Karachi in one and a half hours and wipe out the entire city.
As the sea lines creeps closer to the city limits because of land erosion resulting from mangrove tree deforestation, the danger to Karachi’s population increases. The sea along the coast of Karachi also receives over 400 million gallons per day of untreated effluents, sixty percent of which is industrial waste while 40 percent domestic garbage. The net result is drastic degradation of coastal environment and natural systems including mangrove forests.
The changes in the ecosystem caused by manmade developments, climate changes and unchecked pollution have wreaked havoc with coastal population of Indus delta. An estimated 80 percent of the five million dwellers who once lived and earned livelihood along the banks of the delta have been displaced. As the sea levels rise, prospects of trans-boundary migration also increase. According to recent survey sea level rise is expected to produce 35-40 million climate refugees.
Within its limited annual share of around 10 percent in the defence budget, Pakistan navy has been a flag bearer in triggering national consciousness on the value of the sea and its contribution towards the national economy. The navy now has an additional task to protect and preserve the multibillion dollar project, CPEC with Gwadar port as its bedrock.
As part of its corporate responsibility, Pakistan Navy recently launched a massive campaign to plant mangroves and ensure sustainable development along the Sindh and Balochistan coast. The survival rate of mangroves in the said area is quite promising. An ambitious plan to develop a life-sized jungle here is accordingly well underway. Fully conscious of the importance of mangroves in thwarting coastal erosion and protection it provides to coastal eco-system, Pakistan Navy has devised an exclusive grand policy for mangrove forestation on a national scale. The policy aims at large scale plantation of mangroves all along the country’s coastline. Importantly, other areas of environment have not been out of sight of the Pakistan navy and last year alone, 81,000 tree saplings were planted, largely along the coastal belt of Pakistan.
The Pakistan Navy has made a sustained effort to preserve national environment in its area of responsibility and beyond. Numerous initiatives are progressing in close collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) and other national as well as international organizations. Of particular importance are Mangroves For the Future (MFF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as well as World Wildlife Federation.
The situation nonetheless merits greater efforts both at the provincial as well as national level. These efforts are needed to foremost, educate the masses on the developing dangers to national maritime security as a result of climate change, environmental and marine degradation and secondly, to formulate a broad based consensus driven national strategy that mitigates future risks along Pakistan’s coast.
