Kadalundi, on the south-west coast, had about 8 hectares of nutrient-rich inter-tidal mudflats in the early 2000s. Today, the expanse of mudflats in the estuary of the Kadalundipuzha river has reduced to just about 1 hectare. This too is gradually being covered with sand, depriving prey to thousands of shorebirds that migrate from colder climes in winter to Kadalundi village in Kozhikode district.
Researchers point out that if the mudflats are not protected and restored, Kadalundi will vanish from the global map as a prominent destination of migrant shorebirds in a few years. It is the abundance of prey such as polychaetes and crustaceans in the mudflats that attract a wide variety of migrant shorebirds to Kadalundi from places such as Siberia, Ladakh, Mongolia, and Scotland.
“We have tried to convince the government through memorandums, of the importance of protecting the mudflat ecosystem of Kadalundi from other invasive elements such as sandbanks and mangroves. But the response has been passive,” said T.R. Athira, C.T. Shifa, and K. Jishnu, who have been studying the ecological changes taking place in Kadalundi for the past several years.
