NGO to plant 4 lakh mangrove saplings in Sunderbans

In an initiative to increase mangrove cover in the Sunderbans area, devastated by cyclone Amphan, a Kolkata-based NGO has set up a target to plant 4 lakh mangrove saplings in a year's time.

In an initiative to increase mangrove cover in the Sunderbans area, devastated by cyclone Amphan, a Kolkata-based NGO has set up a target to plant 4 lakh mangrove saplings in a year's time. Altogether 512 households in areas spread over Hingalganj in North 24-Parganas and Gosaba in South 24- Parganas districts in Sunderbans have been involved in mangrove cultivation and the plantation project, Prodyot Mondal, one of the 42 trainers monitoring the project, told PTI on Thursday.

Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees, especially of the family Rhizophoraceae, forming dense thickets along tidal shores and have well-developed aerial roots. Apart from providing livelihood to poor villagers, including women who are in dire straits due to the cyclone, the project will also save the land from natural calamities and breaching of embankments by swollen rivulets criss- crossing the belt in high tides, Mondal said.

The project has already generated income for 200-250 women who were facing financial difficulties due to lockdown and cyclone Amphan, which has left most fields and ponds inundated with saline water, he said. It has also provided succour to men, who had migrated to cities for work but had to return in the wake of the lockdown, he said.

Ajit Mistry, a local resident and chief superviser involved in the project, said, "We have grown 2 lakh mangrove saplings till July-end which will be planted. "Care is being taken to properly collect fruits shed by the mangrove trees and is washed away during tides. The fruit falls only during this particular time of the year," he said.

Seeds from these fruits are being sown in nurseries in Gosaba block for growing saplings. The saplings are then planted across embankments and other places to create a mangrove cover, in an area spread over 160 acre, Mistry said. A spokesman of the NGO said, around 12,000 saplings have been planted in the past 45 days.

"Our target is to plant 4 lakh mangroves in a year's time," he said, seeking help from the corporates and individuals in the endeavour. Binodini Mondal, leader of a self-help group associated with the project, said, "If Sunderbans can survive, all of us will survive. Residents of Sunderbans, nature and animals are integrated with one another." Environment activist and one of the key persons behind the NGO, Saurabh Mukherjee, said, the mangrove cover plays an important role in saving the Sunderbans delta, a Unesco World Heritage site, and the city of Kolkata from the fury of cyclones.

"Our project, with the total involvement of locals, is aimed at saving the rich biodiversity of the belt and generating income for the villagers," he said..