Drop The Sickle

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The problem is, a Kerala forest department survey of mangroves in five panchayats in the region has recommended that the land be declared an ecologically fragile area. The Centre has even sanctioned Rs 56 lakh under the mangrove conservation fund for the Pappinissery mangrove protection project.

But brushing aside the growing protests and allegations  that the CPI(M) was “vandalising” the state’s largest stretch of natural mangrove forests, the park was inaugurated on April 4, with action hero Suresh Gopi doing the honours. The 4.5-hectare theme park land is partly owned by the society and partly held on lease from the panchayat. The latter used its discretionary powers and has even allowed the society to erect a boat jetty on government land.

Things came to a head on the opening day itself after four  activists of the Kannur District Environmental Society (DES) were beaten up by CPI(M) workers as they prepared for a sit-in in front of the park gates. Kallayan Pokkudan, known locally as the mangroves man, was scheduled to join them but by the time he came, the injured activists— Bhaskaran Velloor, Hari Chakkarakkal, Asha Hari and Kanam Kunhiraman—had been bundled away in a private bus.

Bhaskaran and Hari allege that party goons had uprooted clusters of Rhizophora, an endemic mangrove species, to build roads around the park. However, Eco Tourism Society president N. Unnikannan and Pappinissery panchayat president K. Narayanan rubbish the allegations, saying the society’s objective was to promote sustainable, nature-based cultural tourism. They have their own nature care claims too: they say they plant new saplings, study mangrove ecosystems, even host conferences on protecting river resources and train youngsters in nature conservation. Incidentally, the society’s motto is: ‘Save Earth, Save Yourself.’

Bhaskaran, however, calls it all a facade. “It’s a sham,” he says. “Whether for good or bad, nobody can meddle with the mangroves, which are rich repositories of biodiversity. To the Marxists, the mangroves are just shoots and leaves! But for the rest of us, the endangered mangroves are a lifeline on the coast.” The society’s plan to plant new saplings also got the thumbs down. The activists say ‘planting’ mangroves is meaningless because this cannot revive the “ruined ecosystem”. Interestingly, the society’s arguments haven’t convinced even their own, including the Left-leaning Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, the progressive science and literary movement. The parishad has urged the state government to take over the mangroves, warning that “our next step will be direct legal action”. 

As reports have suggested, from the sanctioning stage itself, there were gross violations on the part of the Pappinissery panchayat. A 5-8-metre-wide road was constructed within the park using laterite soil brought in from elsewhere in blatant violation of the Coastal Zone Management Authority’s rule that permission be secured for any construction activity in Coastal Regulation Zone-1 areas.

Kerala has had a rich history in the mangrove protection cause. The Society for Environment Education in Kerala (SEEK) spearheaded the first wave of mangrove protection in the 1970s. A SEEK tract from then says, “Mangroves (Kadal Kadu  or forests of the sea in Malayalam) are the poor cousins to larger forests. In a state like Kerala, where backwaters run through bursting human habitats, mangroves have been cherished for long, though lately they have been considered dispensable impediments in the way of economic development, especially after the Gulf boom....” Incidentally, of the 1,700 hectares of mangroves in Kerala, over half are in Kannur.

But will that be enough? An International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) study notes that in India and Southeast Asia, 80 per cent of all mangrove areas have been lost in the past 60 years. “The loss will have devastating economic and environmental consequences,” says the IUCN Red List. This is especially true for a state like Kerala; the mangrove clusters host several commercially important species of fish and crustaceans and are at times the only “source of livelihood to the coastal communities”.

A good thing about mangroves is that they are much more resilient compared to, say, coral reefs, which also acts as buffers in coastal states. If they are left alone, they have the ability to spring back. But if not, this pristine estuary and its exclusive flora/fauna, will be lost forever.