West Bengal which is home to about 40% of mangrove forests in India, announced the setting up of a ‘Mangrove Cell’ in the State, on the occasion of the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem on Wednesday.
“This platform will bring certain continuity to the efforts of State government in mangrove management. Not only will the Cell have an annual action plan for the plantation of mangroves, it will look at maintenance and coordinate with NGOs,” Vivek Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to the State’s Forest Department, said on Wednesday.
Mr. Kumar made the announcement during a national symposium on “Building synergies for healthy mangroves and robust value chain around the mangrove ecosystem in Sundarban” in Kolkata. The Secretary said that the Mangrove Cell will generate funds from private and international sectors, as well us publish books and conduct research on the subject.
In a detailed presentation, the Additional Chief Secretary spoke on the fragile ecosystem of the Sundarbans and how rising sea level and subsidence of landmass along with frequent tropical cyclones is posing threat to the region.
As land subsides and sea level rises there will be “huge challenge of what will happen to the coastal population”. The mean subsidence of landmass is about 15 mm and mean sea level rise is about 4-5 mm. Several islands are completely submerged and 100 sq. km of mangroves have been lost in two decades. These are based on internationally recognised studies, Mr. Kumar said
The Secretary pointed out that sea surge causes maximum damage during the cyclones and no embankment is high enough to stop it. The mangrove plants here prevent coastal erosion by mitigating sea surge, he added.
15 crore mangrove saplings
Mr. Kumar said about 15.56 crore mangrove saplings were planted by the West Bengal Forest Department in an area of about 10,398 acres from 2020 to 2021. Land from multiple agencies was mobilised and about 1,780 detailed project reports (DPRs) were made and all the plantation was done by women, the secretary said, adding that only ₹80 crore was spent, “and ₹75 crore was sourced through MGNREGA as wages” to the women who planted saplings. “In eight to 10 years we will have impregnable bio-shields around the Sundarbans,” Mr. Kumar stressed highlighting the success of the initiative.
The two-day symposium is being organised around the subject of creating a robust value chain around the mangrove ecosystem in Sundarbans and features experts from various subjects. K. Kathiresan, Professor, Center of Advance Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, spoke on the subject of “Looking retrospectively at mangrove conservation in Indian Sundarban” and Debal Ray, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Bengal, spoke on “Strategy for inclusion of less abundant species to diversify the species selection process for restoration and rehabilitation of mangroves”.
Ajanta Dey, Joint Secretary and programme director, Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS), the organisation that has put together the symposium, said that mangroves are a fascinating species and while about 84 species are found in the country, in terms of plantation only 17 to 18 species are “considered”. Ms. Dey stressed on the need for involving more species.
On the second day, discussions will be held on sustainable aquaculture in mangrove ecosystem. A pilot project of setting up a sustainable aquaculture system in a mangrove ecosystem is being taken up at a village at Minakhan in North 24 Parganas district under the banner of ‘Sustainable Aquaculture In Mangrove Ecosystem’ (SAIME).
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