Volunteers soldier on, despite adversities, to save mangroves

 A Draft Correspondent | Navi Mumbai

On Sunday 13 December 2020, a team of ‘Mangrove Soldiers’ gathered at a mangrove nursery in Nerul, Navi Mumbai to clean the mangroves of human generated waste. The initiative is part of the #MangrovesCleanupDrive that was initiated on 15 August 2020 by Environment Life founder Dharmesh Barai with colleagues Sriram Shankar and Rohan Bhosale. At present, there are a whopping 90 plus volunteers working to protect the mangroves and clear the trash in mangrove areas. And, the number is only growing.

Critical to the marine ecosystem and biodiversity, mangroves are important for humans too, especially in a coastal city like Mumbai. Mangroves protect humans from natural calamities by acting as natural barriers. However, human activity and apathy has affected health of mangroves in the region drastically.

Children, adults and the elderly are coming to contribute in the mangrove cleaning drive

Mangroves breathe from their roots that often choke up with tonnes of trash thrown in the sea or flow ashore. This affects mangrove health and causes a loss of marine biodiversity. Under the initiative, Mangrove Soldiers have been working every Sunday from 8 am to 10 am to clean the trash in the mangroves.

“In the 17 weeks gone by, we have removed eight tonnes of trash that contains non-degradable waste such as cosmetic waste, household grocery packing, footwear, medical waste, mercury bulbs, tube-lights, liquor bottles, plastic, thermocol pieces, packaged water bottles, wafer packets, clothes, etc.,” says Dharmesh Barai.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has been playing an important role in the drive by providing staff, hand gloves, accessories to the volunteers and ensuring proper trash disposal. NMMC personnel, particularly Commissioner Abhijit Bangar, Deputy Commissioner for SWM Dr Babasaheb Rajale, Asst. Commissioner Belapur A Ward Shashikant Tandel, Head Swachhta Officer Rajendra Sonawane, Sanitary Officer Vijay Naik and other NMMC Swachhta Doot have been active in making the initiative a success. 

In just 17 weeks, the Mangrove Soldiers collected eight tonnes of trash from the mangroves

“Other than NMMC, the Maharashtra Mangroves Forest Department, Save Navi Mumbai Environment, college and school students and locals from the adjoining areas have been participating in the drive,” maintains Mr Barai.

The initiative has received warm response of people from all age groups. So much so that for the clean-up drive children, adults and the elderly of all age groups are coming to contribute in any manner possible.

According to Mr Barai, “It’s time to take responsibility and ensure waste is thrown only in a dustbin. Earlier one would find pearls in the ocean and now there's only plastic to be found. Despite the ban, single-use plastic is yet being sold in the market and openly. If the government puts thick fishing nets in rivers and nullas, the trash can be easily stopped from flowing into the ocean. There’s also a need to increase recycling.”

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