Mangrove forests can absorb around 10 times more carbon dioxide than terrestrial forests and help in stopping greenhouse gasses from entering the atmosphere.
Mangrove forests help reduce the damaging effect of tsunamis near the coastal areas and also rapidly reduce strong winds and waves as they pass through.
Mangrove forests help reduce the warming effect of the ocean which could have led to coral bleaching and the forests also help reduce ocean acidification.
Several countries with coastal areas are dependent on mangrove forests as well for wood, and fisheries making their economy strong.
Mangrove forests are home to a diverse range of species, estimated to be around 1,500, including not just fish and shellfish, but various others.
The change in coastal land shape after the deforestation of mangrove forests makes the plantation again next to impossible.
With more than 23,000 square km area of mangrove, the country offers a 23 per cent share of the total mangroves in the world, some of them being ultra huge in height upto144 feet.