A comprehensive survey report on mangroves in the district will be released soon, District Collector P. Bala Kiran has said.
Inaugurating a seminar on mangrove forests in Kerala, he said the procedure for takeover of the mangrove areas by the government was in the final phase.
The district has nearly 2,500 acres of mangrove vegetation spread over 32 villages, and collective efforts are required for its conservation, he said.
Environmental activist Khaleel Chovva, delivering the keynote address at the seminar, called for wetlands of Kattampally to be declared as Ramser a site.
Participants of the seminar included environmental experts who spoke on various issues relating to the conservation of the biodiversity-rich ecosystem in the upper reaches of estuaries, lagoons and backwaters of the coastal districts of the State.
Kannur accounts for the largest extent of the total mangrove area in the State. Unless the government intervened to save the mangroves, the disappearance of the ecosystem was a foregone conclusion, they warned.
The seminar was organised by the Social Forestry Wing of the Forest Department in association with the Malabar Natural History Society (MNHS), Society for Environmental Education in Kerala (SEEK), and the Koodu Nature Society.
Chief Conservator of Forests D. Jayaprasad said the attitude of people that mangrove forests were an obstacle to development had to be changed. He also said the Forest Department would urge the government to introduce necessary amendments in rules for making mangrove protection easier.
SEEK director T.P. Padmanabhan presided over the function.
Municipal chairperson Roshni Khalid was the chief guest. Jaffer Palot (MNHS), environmental activist V.C. Balakrishnan, Deputy Conservator of Forests K.V. Uthaman, and Joint Director of Fisheries Dineshan Cheruvat were among those who spoke.
