Developing Coastal Green Belt
- A long way to sustain healthy coasts through community participation
A Greenbelt is defined as a strip of natural or artificially created coastal vegetation designed to prevent coastal erosion, and mitigate the adverse impacts of natural coastal hazards on human lives and property.
Concept
Forests are both the lungs of the planet and the air conditioning system. What we breathe out they breathe in, and what they breathe out we breathe in. Trees absorb our carbon dioxide and bless us with both oxygen and cooling water vapour. The mists of the rainforests are actually largely created by the trees themselves. Our ancestors knew this and used sacred groves of mature trees to draw down the mists from the
Western Ghats to facilitate the precipitation of enough rain to assure the quantity of water needed for both irrigation and drinking water.
The importance of trees in purifying the air, as natural resources, maintaining the ecological balance, preventing soil erosion, as medicines, habitats for faunal species, providing nutrients to the soil etc. is well known. According to the National Forest Policy, the country is required to achieve a forest cover target of 33 per cent cover by 2012. The coastal environment is unique because it constitutes the interface where the marine and terrestrial environments merge, making resource management as challenge. The diverse habitats that comprise the sea and coastal environment have historically provided invaluable tangible benefits to the nation and its people.
Our Action
The involvement of people - particularly at the grassroots level - and NGOs like OMCAR Foundation is crucial for achieving these targets. As a part of its effort to improve the green belt in coastal villages of Thanjavur District, OMCAR Foundation has established two nursery gardens in Pattukkottai and Velivayal. The aim of this programme is to produce 10,000 saplings of local trees every year. The saplings are distributed during environmental awareness and community livelihood programmes to various sections of the community (farmers, fishers, schools, colleges and hospitals). Seeds are donated by ISHA Foundation in every six months. OMCAR Foundation is doing following field work.
1. Co-ordination for distributing the seeds to local village nurseries, which are run by volunteers.
2. Collection of sand, manure and soil.
3. Preparation of Mother Bed and sapling pockets.
4. Transplantation of seedlings to pockets.
5. Maintenance for three to four months.
6. Selection of beneficiaries and guiding them for pit preparation.
7. Printing tree conservation pamphlets.
8. Organizing tree donation programme
9. Donation of saplings to the beneficiaries.
10. Documentation and reporting.
Totally 2,914 saplings were donated in 2008, and 2,634 saplings were donated in 2009. The saplings are usually donated in post monsoon and pre monsoon seasons. Based on the need of the target section of the beneficiaries, the saplings are divided in to Fruit trees, Timber trees, Commercial trees, Flowering trees and Avenue trees. The following species have been donated from OMCAR Foundation in 2008 and 2009.
OMCAR School Plantation Programmes
Prior to each plantation activity, students were briefed about the significance of native trees, how to plant them and their after care. Resource material for the programme was developed in form of brochures giving information about native trees. The brochure, “OurTrees” highlighted the identifying features and uses of native trees with the help of illustrations. The students were asked to conduct follow-up activities to see how the saplings they had planted were doing and also submit a report on the activity after a period of three months. All the findings by the students were documented as a report.