Restoration of saltmarsh as mitigative measure of climate change impact at Chittagong coastal area of Bangladesh

The present study was carried out at Chittagong coastal area of Bangladesh to restore the saltmarsh from the month of December’ 2009 to the month of November’ 2010. Restoration of existing coastal salt marshes of Bangladesh will enhance the accretion of land in the coastal region by increasing sedimentation and reducing erosion via the establishment of complex root system of salt marsh vegetation in the intertidal zone. The study area was vegetated by salt marsh plant Porteresia coarctata with a slope of 1% of plain land topography. In the recent study, there was found significant variations among air temperature, water temperature, soil temperature, sea water salinity, dissolve oxygen, water transparency, tidal height, percentage of sand, bulk density, soil organic carbon and plant biomass with the seasons (P < 0.05). Fertilization showed a positive correlation with plant biomass and growth/decay rate of at 5% level of significance and it was negatively correlated with water temperature and soil temperature at 1% and 5% level of significance respectively. From the present study it is evident that in Salt Marsh Restoration Site (SMRS) the remarkable changes in some of the factors studied rather than Reference Site (R) which could be helpful for the coastal environment as well as for the local community in the long run. Restoration, conservation and management of productive albeit degraded saltmarsh needed to cut down piquancy of climate change impacts.