The fate of Mumbai, India’s bustling business capital by the sea, has always been intimately tied to the tides. Early on, British colonists saw strategic advantage in its deep-water harbor, set on India’s western coast and perfectly positioned for trade across the Arabian Sea. So, they took what had been a set of seven swampy islands inhabited by modest fishing communities and embarked on a vast project of dominion over nature. Starting in the late 1700s, a series of embankments were built and land was reclaimed, with – unsurprisingly for the times – little regard for the surrounding ecology. By 1838, Mumbai had become one contiguous peninsula, the foundation for a hub of commerce and industry that endures to this day. Further reclamations continued through the 20th century, culminating with the construction of the business district of Nariman Point in the 1970s.
The pressures of creeping urbanization have hardly relented in the years since: between 1977 and 2017, Mumbai lost nearly two-thirds of its water bodies and vegetation. But while natural buffers against storm surges disappeared within city limits, surrounding Mumbai there remained a vast ecosystem of mangrove swamps and wetlands that have received a degree of protection.
Seen from above, Sanjay Gandhi…
