Women from the Green Brigade volunteer group planting saplings by a riverside in Dakshin Durgapur village, about 140km from Kolkata, on Wednesday on International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem.
West Bengal, home to about 40 per cent of mangrove forests in India, announced the setting up of a Mangrove Cell in the state.
“This will bring certain continuity to the efforts in mangrove management. Not only will the Cell have an annual action plan for the plantation of mangroves, it will also look at maintenance,” said Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to the State’s Forest Department Vivek Kumar.
About 150 million mangrove saplings have been planted by the West Bengal Forest Department since 2020.
