Mangrove forests are salt tolerant coastal terrestrial vegetation existing along the intertidal regions. Besides the ecological and economic significance, and are recognized for their high carbon sequestration potential, higher than tropical evergreen forest ecosystems.  India with a long coastline of about 7500 km including its island territories, bordered by Arabian Sea in the West and Bay of Bengal in the East, sustains luxuriant coastal vegetation comprising mangroves, seagrass and salt marsh. In India, as part of national survey for assessing the State of Forest Cover, along with other inland forests, mangrove extent is also quantified biennially based on digital classification of IRS LISS III data by the Forest Survey of India (ISFR, 2019).  The mangrove extent as per ISFR 2019 is estimated as 4975 km², constitutes 0.15% of the geographical area of the country. Compared to inland forests, mangroves exhibit species/ community zonation based on tidal inundation, salt tolerance, soil physiochemical properties and other environmental factors. Community level mapping of mangroves using remote sensing provides a synoptic perception of its environmental setting and the spatial relationship with the gradients that sustains it.

The Mangrove zonation mapping at community level illustrates its potential for inclusion in national inventory framework for devising regional level policies and programs for locale-specific species/community conservation and afforestation practices for holistic mangrove management.

Community level mapping using digital classification of Landsat 8 OLI data for the mangroves was completed for all the mangrove ecosystems of India. Accordingly, mangrove community/ species zonation spanning across the nine coastal states and four union territories were discerned and mapped for the period 2016 – 2019.  Given the serious consequences of climate change and increasing biotic pressure on coastal natural resources, the spatial assessment of mangrove communities across various environmental gradients along the coasts is required for scientific management and conservation of these natural ecological resources.