Bhubaneswar, June 11 -- Cyclone Yaas that barreled through coastal Odisha with hostile winds and torrential downpour could have unleashed a destruction of unimaginable proportions if not for the hundreds of mile-long luxuriant mangrove canopy that etches along the State's coastline as a protective barrier against nature's fury.

However, rampant deforestation by prawn mafia operating within Bhitarkanika National Park is not only decimating the forest but has also made the country's second largest mangrove cover prone to the very cyclones and other natural calamities that it itself protects others from.

According to researchers and local people, the mangrove forest, covering over 251 square kilometres in the coastal area of the State, has...