Mangroves help to combat climate change by enhancing coastal protection, sequestering carbon, and supporting biodiversity. Mangroves act as natural barriers against storms, reduce erosion, and improve livelihoods through sustainable fishing and eco-tourism opportunities, while also promoting ecosystem health and resilience against environmental changes.
Climate change today:
India is heating up. Between 1901 and 2018, temperatures rose by 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit (0.7 degrees Celsius).
In the central belt of India, extreme rainfall events have increased threefold while total rainfall has decreased
UNHCR says 5 million Indians were displaced due to climate change in 2021
One third of all glaciers will be bone by 2100 posing a never before water scarcity challenge.
Project that needs your support:
Proposed Program: Mangroves
Restoration of the mangrove ecosystems in Odisha can contribute to community climate resilience and climate change adaptation while helping biodiversity conservation and absorption of GHG emissions. The proposed mangrove planting will be done in the planting seasons of 2024- 25,.
A healthy mangrove based eco system means an increase in forest cover, increase in fish populations and most importantly, protection from the ever increasing cyclones on the eastern coast of India..
Odisha is one of the states that often bears the brunt of cyclones and super cyclones. A supercyclone in 1999 devastated the district of Jagatsinghpur. Locals reported more than 30,000 deaths caused by the cyclone. Incidentally Jagatsinghpur was a district that had lost most of its mangrove cover due to deforestation. In contrast, Kendrapara reported negligible deaths and loss of property attributed mostly to a healthy mangrove cover.
Loss of mangroves also increases the risk of salinity intrusion to groundwater.
The over exploited fresh water aquifers without recharging have caused salinity intrusion from adjacent Bay of Bengal. The water in aquifers has turned brackish and fresh water ground water has depleted down more than 600m near the coastal zone. The increased salinity ingress shall reduce the yield of the farms, deteriorate the quality of drinking water, deepening fresh ground water aquifers. Due to regular floods, sea level rise, the water logging and drainage congestion have increased so it is essential to save the ground water for further
deterioration.
We propose to plant 1 lakh mangrove saplings in the coastal areas of Jagatsinghpur in Odisha.
This project will protect a popluation of more than 5000 families that live in close proximity to the coast and rely on the mudflats for their livelihoods.
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