State forest department allocates land to NGO for carrying out mangrove plantation and maintenance
The mangrove cover in the Indian part of Sunderbans is gradually shrinking & many species of mangrove have shifted their roots in the Bangladesh part of the Sunderbans;
In the wake of the Sunderbans losing its dense mangrove cover, the state Forest department is learnt to have allocated land to a non-governmental organisation for carrying out plantation and maintenance of it.
The mangrove cover in the Indian part of the Sunderbans is gradually shrinking and many species of mangrove have shifted their roots in the Bangladesh part of the Sunderbans. According to the State of Forest Report 2021, the dense mangrove cover in the Sunderbans shrank by two square kilometres – from 996 sq km to 994 sq km — between 2019 and 2021.
“The reason why we are losing the dense mangrove forest in the Sunderbans is the salinity in the water which is consistently rising as the sea water inundates the mangrove vegetation. It causes a significant reduction of the oxygen absorption capacity of poor mangrove plants. In the course of time, the species are getting lost,” said Subhaschandra Acharya, environmentalist and joint director of Sunderban Board.
The Directorate of Forest, South 24-Parganas Division, allocated a tract of land measuring 1020 hectares (equivalent to 2520 acres) of non-forest land to the Kolkata Society For Cultural Heritage (KSCH), a United Nations-accredited NGO for mangrove plantation and maintenance.
KSCH will plant and maintain mangroves in the range of Raidighi, Ramganga and Bhagabatpur in the Sunderbans. “The allocation of non-forest land for mangrove plantation and maintenance is in line with the vision of our Chief Minister who contemplated 17 crore mangrove plantations in the Sunderbans area. Kolkata Society For Cultural Heritage has been doing such plantation activity since 2017, hence we allocated this project to them,” said Milan Mondal, District Forest Officer (DFO), South 24-Parganas.
“We have plans to plant and maintain nearly two crore mangroves in the area in the next five years. We would engage villagers in the plantation and maintenance to create an alternative income opportunity for almost 42,000 villagers. We can now apply for carbon credits. This will be the first-ever initiative where the government and NGOs can work together in carbon trading to bring funds for mangrove plantation and preservation. We are approaching different corporate houses and NGOs to join hands to implement the project,” said Sourav Mukherjee, founder and director of KSCH.
“We have also received support from the NRK Trust from London which has been planting 2,00,000 mangrove saplings every year. Other NGOs like Soroptimist International South Kolkata (SISK) have been working with KSCH for the last four years. This is the first time ever in the Sunderbans where the Forest Department, NGOs and corporates have come under the same roof to restore the mangrove forests,” said Sourav.