Equip Forest Guards to Protect Wildlife in India

Greetings from Wildlife Trust of India!

Thank you so much for making a donation to our project ‘Equip Forest Guards to Protect Wildlife in India’. With your valuable support, we could adequately equip the forest staff of Kannur Forest Department in Kerala to provide help in protecting mangroves.

Here’s an update on activities conducted during the reporting period.

Mangroves, being extremely rich in biodiversity, act as both refuges and nurseries for a large variety of threatened terrestrial and aquatic species. They are an important source of fodder, medicines and firewood for people living in coastal communities. They also act as barriers against cyclones and tsunamis, preventing coastal erosion, and maintaining inland water quality by preventing sea water intrusion. The Kannur district of Kerala has 7.55 sq km of mangroves which is approximately 45% of the states total mangrove forest cover. These mangroves are facing considerable destruction as a result of human population growth and intrusive development with less than half the original acreage remaining.

WTI runs a mangrove restoration project in Kunhimangalam village of Kannur district which is one of the largest mangrove villages in Kerala. The project has received immense support from forest staff of Kannur Division which covers a very large area of the entire Kannur district along the slopes of Western Ghats. The region is prone to frequent fire outbreaks and with human population density being on the higher side, the fire outbreaks are even more common.

Last year the Division had to tackle ten forest fire instances and two instances occurred this year in February. To address the issue and help the forest department mitigate forest fires, a Rapid Action Project was undertaken.

We provided a leaf blower to help douse fires, a brush cutter to create fire lines that prevent further spread of fires, and 157 backpacks for temporary watchers and permanent staff. It has been reported that the forest staff who received the equipment support are very happy and find this quite useful during patrolling and in preventing forest fires this year. We hope that this support goes a long way in protecting the Mangrove forests from burning during summers.

We will be back with more updates on the project. Till then, take care!

Warm regards,

Team WTI