Kannur, 24th July 2020: Embracing the new normal of online events during COVID times, Wildlife Trust of India celebrated International Day for the Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystem with the Kerala Forest Department today by releasing an eye-catching poster commissioned by WTI. The poster illustrates the protection mangroves provide to the land just as a face mask provides to people and carries the tag line ‘Face shields against Corona, Mangrove shields against cyclones’. Pune based wildlife artist, Rohan Dahotre worked on WTI’s concept and created this poster (downloadable link available at the end of this story)
The Kannur Kandal Project team of WTI supported by Apollo Tyres organised this web event two days in advance of International Mangrove Day with Kerala Forest Department since the commemorative day falls on a Sunday this year. The Hon’ Forest Minister for Kerala, Adv. K Raju and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife warden of Kerala, Shri Surrendra Kumar IFS graced this online event that was attended by senior Govt and Forest officials, representatives of Apollo Tyres and WTI, community stakeholders and academia.
Inagurating the event, the Hon’ Forest Minister for Kerala, Adv. K Raju stated “The extent of mangroves in Kerala has dwindled over the last century to around 21 km2 from its historical extent of 700 km2. The Kerala Government is committed towards the conservation of mangroves and has allocated INR 110 Cr for the acquistion of 1160 Ha of mangrove land from private land owners under ‘Rebuild Kerala’ initiative. The State Forest Department is also drafting a proposal to declare approx. 65 Ha of mangroves as Reserve Forests”. The minister appreciated the Kannur Kandal Project for organizing the event.
The winners of the mangrove photo contest launched earlier this month were also announced today.
The Kannur Kandal project aims at ensuring survival of the existing mangroves and to increase the acreage of such habitats across Kannur. This pioneering project is the only NGO-owned mangove habitat in India and is a benchmark for similar projects in other coastal districts of Kerala and in the rest of the country.
Read more about the Kannur Kandal Project here.
Vivek Menon, ED & CEO of WTI shared, “The state govt. of Kerala has always taken the mangrove conservation as priority and WTI is proud to partner with Kerala Forest Department and Apollo tyres in this initiataive”.
Mangrove restoration remains one of the priority activities under the ‘Rebuild Kerala’ initiative because of the reduction in total mangrove areas in Kerala over the years. Currently, Kannur has only 6 km2 of mangroves, i.e. around 67% of Kerala’s total mangrove forest cover (source: Forest Survey of India (FSI).
“To go far we need to go together-that is the essence of partnership that Apolo Tyres believes in and we are thankful to WTI and Kerala FD for this partneship for the conservation of mangroves in Kerala” summarized Rinika Grover, Head CSR and Sustainability, Apollo Tyres Ltd.
The panel discussion on exploring exploring synergies to mainstreaming biodiversity conservtion with s a a focus on mangroves and marine life. The panel experts were Dr BC Choudhury, (Executive Trustee & Principal Investigator, Aquatic Projects, WTI), N. Vasudevan (Addl. PCCF, Maharashtra Forest Dept), Dr. Vivek Saxena (Country Head, IUCN India), BN Anjan Kumar IFS (Conservator of Forests, Kerala Forest Dept), Satish Trivedi (Dy. Manager – CSR, Tata Chemicals Ltd.), the panel discussion saw active participation by scientists, conservationists, students, naturalists, NGO representatives and corporates.
” It is not only the responsibility of State Forest department, MOEFCC and conservation NGOs to conserve the biodiversity. As part of the constitutional responsibility it is the duty of every citizen, organisations and corporates to safeguard and protect the nature and biodiversity” summarized Dr. BC Choudhury during the pane discussion.
Click here to download the poster
