"Trees Are Like Soldiers" — India's Environment Minister Defends Cutting 45,000 Mumbai Mangroves

Описание: At Mumbai Climate Week 2026, Maharashtra Environment Minister Pankaja Munde was directly asked whether clearing 45,675 mangroves for a coastal road was justified. Her answer: compare the trees to soldiers.

"Think of those trees as soldiers. Till the time they are living, they are protecting us, and if they are taken off, they are still working for development," she said.

She also drew on a mother-soldier analogy, arguing that growing trees means accepting the possibility of cutting them for progress — and that compensatory planting of 10 trees for every 5 removed was the responsible path.

The remarks triggered sharp public pushback. Environmentalists, permaculturists, and social activists called the comparison insensitive and scientifically inaccurate.

Independent researchers found that urban mangrove restoration in Mumbai fails at more than half the sites studied.

Meanwhile, aerial footage of the city continues to show what policy documents don't always capture: visibly cleaner air above its forests and mangroves, heavier haze above its concrete zones.

Mumbai records sea-level rise at 4.5mm per year, and its mangroves are widely documented as a critical coastal buffer.

This video covers what was said, by whom, where — and what the ecological record actually shows.

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