Villagers help nurture world’s largest mangrove gene pool

JHARKHALI, SUNDERBANS, OCT 30: The world's first and largest mangrove gene pool, having the highest number of species, will soon find pla...

JHARKHALI, SUNDERBANS, OCT 30: The world’s first and largest mangrove gene pool, having the highest number of species, will soon find place on the Indian map thanks to the efforts of a handful of illiterate villagers in this sleepy island hamlet nearly 100 km from Calcutta.

The villagers, who have joined hands with a project, part financed by the West Bengal government, to create the first ever `mangrove ecological park’, are helping raise a plethora of mangrove specimens planted by a Calcutta based NGO.

Largely unaware of its magnitude or ecological importance, the villagers are protecting the saplings from grazing and keeping a close vigil on the project which `brings in so many curious people from the mainland’.

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Says the village head Nitai Barkandaj, “All that we know is the project is going to do the country proud and so we help the babus in all ways we can … and when so many educated people are interested, it must be something of great value.”

With a population of less than 10,000, Jharkhaliin Basanti island is among a dozen more which make up the tidal wetlands of Sunderbans, housing 66 per cent of the country’s mangroves. “Till now we have got together 33 mangrove species out of the known 65 and expect to complete the project in the next 2 years,” says Banshi Manna, coordinator of Calcutta Wildlife Society.

Barkandaj says despite persistent problems of housing, drinking water and sewerage, villages are willing to cooperate in the hope that in future, when the rare gene pool attracts tourists and researchers, the youth will find means of employment.

“No politician comes here, not even to campaign before the polls. Government officials come and go. We sustain ourselves with the monocrop yields and fishing,” he says adding that the renewed interest of the state government has given them a ray of hope.

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Says the senior environment officer of the state environment department, Amitabaha Chakrabarti, “After the initial aid of Rs 2 lakh, we will review the progress and plan futuregrants.”

Dr Kumudranjan Naskar, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) fellow on sunderbans attached with the Central Inland Captive Fishery Research Institute (CICFRI) says the rarest of species will be available in the park providing wide biodiversity.