Eight years later, it’s a different story, thanks to the India-Canada Environmental Facility (ICEF)-funded Restoration of Mangroves in Gujarat project. When ICEF was looking for a village to develop a community-based mangrove conservation programme in Kutch, where rapid industrialisation is threatening the mangroves, this small village of 55 households, near Jhakhou, served the purpose.

The mangroves planted by the villagers on 251 hectares of land on the periphery of the village has changed the ecology of the village. It now provides fodder for the cattle and has also led to an improved fish catch.

The project was commissioned in 2001 for a period of five years and ended in October 2006. Since then, the village community is in charge of the plantation and Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE) researchers are there for assistance.

Dr G A Thivakaran, marine biologist at GUIDE, the implementing agency of the project, says, “The project has been very rewarding. Community participation was hundred per cent. The mangroves are now over a metre tall. The sedimentation in the areas has decreased helping marine life and it has been proven that mangroves increase fish life. Also, mangroves are a source of natural defence from any calamities from the ocean.”

The wasteland was given to the village for a period of 30 years by the revenue department. The first batch of mangroves was planted in 2002. The total cost of the project in the village was close to Rs 50 lakh for over five years.

The fodder needs of cattle have also been taken care of by the mangroves. Dr Thivakaran adds, “In Kutch, fodder for cattle is not easy to come by. The only way we can address this is by growing more mangroves. This will also help in preserving the core mangrove base of the region.”

Another factor that made the villagers welcome the initiative was that community development projects, like providing drinking water facilities and the construction of a primary school in the village, were made its part. A village welfare fund was also created with a corpus of close to Rs 4 lakh donated from the project money. All this ensured that village participation in the project was hundred per cent.