South 24-Parganas dist admin starts 'Mangrove Bachao Club' in all schools

kolkata: South 24-Parganas district administration has initiated the process of forming 'Mangrove Bachao Club' (Save Mangrove Club) in all the schools located within the district and designating brand ambassadors among the students from each school to generate awareness about the importance of mangrove preservation.

The district administration since Wednesday has started taking various initiatives in this matter to commemorate the occasion of World Mangrove Day (July 26) by involving the students in the best possible manner.

District Magistrate, South 24-Parganas, Sumit Gupta in a short video message shared with the media has appealed to the students to inform their family members about the importance of preserving mangroves.

The teachers have been trained in holding various competitions among the students for generating awareness.

"We have planted 12 crore mango saplings in the last two years on 4500 hectares of land in South 24-Parganas and will follow it up with another 2 crore this year," Gupta said.

"The work is being executed in coordination with the state Forest department and Panchayats and Rural Development department and women from the Self Help Groups (SHGs) are being involved in the entire exercise," Gupta said.

About 50,000 women in the district have created 30 mangrove nurseries and more than 60 lakh mangrove saplings have been made in these nurseries. Saplings of allied species like Garan, Sundari, Bokul etc have also been planted along the bank of the rivers in Sunderbans.

Mangroves are an ecologically fragile ecosystem rich in biodiversity and provide a range of services like fisheries, medicines, recreation, eco-tourism, bio-filtration, nursery and coastal protection. It sequesters carbon at a rate of nearly seven times more than normal trees.

It also protects groundwater aquifers from seepage of seawater, thereby ensuring water security for the coastal population.