Kamal Ghorui
Chennai: Forest officials have planted 20,000 mangrove saplings of five species along the Buckingham Canal near Kazhippattur village on Old Mahabalipuram Road, marking the third phase of a coastal restoration initiative. Environment secretary Supriya Sahu said the project is part of efforts to create a natural coastal bio-shield for the city and enhance climate resilience through large-scale mangrove restoration.The drive has been carried out in phases over the past two years. In the first phase, around 12,500 saplings were planted along the banks of the Buckingham Canal near Kazhippattur. The second phase involved planting 5,000 saplings on the Battle of Adyar Island (Quibble Island) along the Adyar River between the Theosophical Society campus and MRC Nagar. Forest officer V A Saravanan said the latest plantation was carried out adjacent to the earlier site along the canal to expand the restored mangrove habitat. Before the exercise, the forest department created a network of eight fishbone-shaped canals of eight feeder canals supported by 186 distribution canals. These channels are designed to allow saline water to enter during high tide and drain out during low tide, creating suitable conditions for mangrove growth, he said. In the third phase, the department planted 9,696 Avicennia marina saplings, 1,495 Avicennia officinalis, 3,602 Rhizophora mucronata, 726 Rhizophora apiculata and 4,481 Excoecaria agallocha.Officials said mangroves help prevent coastal erosion, act as buffers against floods and storm surges, support biodiversity and improve ecological health of waterways. The saplings were grown at departemnt nurseries at Nanmangalam forest and at the Maritime University on OMR. Officials said it took around nine months for the saplings to grow enough to be transplanted.
