With threatened blue carbon ecosystems, how can remote sensing complement coastal communities' perspectives to advance sustainable resource governance and management solutions in India?

Abstract

This study integrated remote-sensing data (RSD) from the Arabian Sea area and coastal community perspectives in Kerala to demonstrate the complementarity of transdisciplinary research in generating knowledge on blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) and advancing sustainable coastal resource governance solutions. Community perspectives demonstrated that although Kerala is endowed with BCEs, notably mangroves, since the 1980s, they have been declining due to human-environmental drivers. Although local communities predominantly attribute the losses to human activities, e.g. dredging and aquaculture, RSD analysis revealed sustained environmental vulnerability drivers. Elevated sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), and sea surface chlorophyll (SSC) levels have been observed since 2010, ranging from 1 degrees C, 0.2 PSU, and 0.1 mg/m3, respectively. Correlating with community perspectives, elevated SSS have affected mangrove abundance and species, including in post-summer and monsoon periods. Hotter summer temperatures above 30 degrees C progressively occurring in April, May, and June, and extending to October and December, increase livelihood and mangrove losses, yet collaborative governance options are limited. Overall, the satellite-derived SST, SSS, and SSC findings correlated with coastal community perspectives, in reinforcing physically consistent interannual variability, confirming their reliability and suitability for subsequent oceanographic research and ecological modelling applications. Through transdisciplinary (TD) research approaches, local observations on threatened BCEs and livelihood change could be integrated and strengthened with marine satellite and scientific data to advance sustainable resource governance options. In this study, six policy and research recommendations that could advance marine TD research are given.