India Restores 2,057 Hectares of Mangroves at Muthupet, Blending Science and Tradition

In the coastal districts of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur in southern India, one of the country's most ambitious wetland-recovery efforts has quietly reached a milestone. Between 2022 and 2025, the Tamil Nadu forest department, working through the Tiruvarur Forest Division, restored 2,057 hectares of mangroves at Muthupet, the state's largest mangrove forest. According to The Better India, the work combined modern hydrological engineering with the local knowledge of fishing communities who have lived alongside these tidal forests for generations.

The Muthupet wetland complex spans roughly 12,020 hectares where the Koraiyar and Pamaniyar rivers meet the sea, part of the internationally recognised Point Calimere Ramsar site. Over the decades, silted-up creeks had cut off the gentle flow of tidal water that mangroves need to survive, leaving large stretches barren. The restoration team treated the problem at its root: more than 380 kilometres of canals were re-excavated in fishbone and box patterns so that seawater could once again reach the roots. On 707 hectares, this hydrological repair alone was enough to let mangroves recover, while another 1,350 hectares were actively replanted with over 1.2 million propagules and saplings of native species such as Avicennia marina, Rhizophora mucronata and Aegiceras corniculatum.

“Between 2022 and 2025, the Tamil Nadu forest department, working through the Tiruvarur Forest Division, restored 2,057 hectares of mangroves at Muthupet, the state's largest mangrove forest.”

What makes the project notable is how the labour was organised. Roughly 10,000 villagers from 16 fishing settlements took part, and Village Mangrove Councils were set up in several communities to keep restoration locally owned. The forest department reports that the effort generated more than 86,000 person-days of paid work, including about 31,000 in 2022-23 and 32,397 in 2023-24 — meaningful income in a region where fishing and seasonal labour can be precarious. Officials including District Forest Officer LCS Srikanth and Additional Chief Secretary Supriya Sahu have pointed to this community-first model as a reason the plantings have held up.

The ecological payoff is becoming visible. Muthupet sits on a major migratory flyway, and the recovering forest supports more than 100 species of waterbirds, with rising sightings of flamingos, pelicans, herons and waders. Healthier mangroves also act as nurseries for fish and prawns, supporting the same fishing families who did the planting, and form a natural buffer that softens storm surges and traps coastal sediment — a real asset on a coast exposed to cyclones. Officials say roughly 700 more hectares have been identified for future planting and another 800 for restoration. It is one project on one stretch of coast, and long-term survival still depends on steady tidal flow and care, but Muthupet shows how patient, locally rooted work can bring a degraded wetland back to life.