VIJAYAWADA: The Forest Department is planning raise mangroves in 350 hectares under the CAMPA scheme this year, a big leap forward from the mangroves grown in 33 hectares from 2017-2018, five hectares from 2016-2017, and 10 hectares from 2015-2016.
“Other than for maintaining bio-diversity, this work is important because mangrove forests act as a shield against storms by reducing their impact and protecting wildlife and property. From 2002 to 2011, Vana Samrakshana Samiti was constituted to plant Casuarina plants in 750 to 1000 hectares in coastal areas like Machilipatnam, Pedda Patnam, and Gilakaladindi, and the residents of these places have told us that whenever there is a storm, the wind causes a lot of damage to the plants. Hence, we are planting mangroves on a large scale this year in Krishna district,” said RV Prasad, Forest Range Officer of Vijayawada.
“We have conducted a ground level survey and filed a report to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. We’ll start work by the end of this month,” said B.Bhavani, Forest Range Officer of Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Forest Department cited several environmental benefits of the project, saying that mangrove trees release four times more oxygen than an average tree, act as fish, crab and shrimp hatcheries, arrest the overflow of water, and are natural habitats of many species in Krishna.
“Mangroves are natural habitats of many animals in Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary,” said B Appa Rao, a wildlife expert.