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| "Mangrove Belt Expands to 50 km in Chokoria, Bangladesh" |
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In 1971, Bangladesh became independent. Business people started cutting mangroves on many parts of the coastline and sold the trees to earn cash income. The coastal areas that had formerly thick jungles of mangroves were turned into monotonous shrimp ponds. Mr. Saiful Chowdhury, a former OISCA trainee, also made extensive shrimp ponds on his property in Chokoria, south of the major port city of Chittagong. In April 1991, an enormous cyclone hit the area. Devastating high waves thoroughly swept away crops, domestic animals, houses, and humans. Several hundred thousand people died. |
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| Mr. Saiful Chowdhury, who also suffered great property loss, came to the vivid realization that the cyclone caused greater damages than others had in the past. He learned that Chokoria Sundarbon, the thick mangrove jungles that existed before, had served as natural seawalls and protected coastal villages from cyclones. Mr. Chowdhury was determined to re-create the mangrove jungles in order to lessen damages from cyclones. | ||
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In 1992, the OISCA
Mangrove Planting Project started. It was a difficult task - a path of
trials and errors. Mr. Chowdhury thought it was essential to mobilize
people of the villages. Some villagers did join in the planting, but the
next day other villagers pulled out the saplings. Also, stray buffaloes
often came in and ate the planted saplings. The Project was intended to
protect lives and property of the local people, but they did not understand
it. In spite of such adversities, Mr. Chowdhury never lost sight of his
original plan, and continued with the Project.
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He was encouraged to receive cooperation from other former trainees, as well as volunteers from Japan. "UI Zensen Domei", a labor union of Japanese textile companies joined in the planting work every summer. In 1996, the first 5-year plan was completed with a result of 3 million mangrove trees planted on 300 hectares. In April 1997, another devastating cyclone attacked the coastal areas, including Chokoria. Small trees in the Project were washed away, but most plants had already grown 5 - 6 meters tall. The villagers in the area could see how the mangroves protected their villages and how different damages were between those protected by mangroves and without mangroves. From this time on, people of villages near the Project came to Mr. Chowdhury asking him to plant mangroves in their villages too. |
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Adopting the concept of the CFP came to minds of the project coordinators. They approached primary schools near the Project site. It was soon evident that the CFP worked well. The children who planted mangroves gained confidence and displayed an enormous sense of ownership. "These are the trees we planted with volunteers," they said. They try to fend off stray buffaloes that come into the mangrove fields and take care of the planted trees.
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| As school children took part in the mangrove planting, other local groups including agricultural cooperatives took the initiative to take part in the planting. Political leaders of the areas appealed to villagers to take part in the planting programs. |
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In fiscal year 2002,
thirteen members of the Voluntas Team from the Textile Labor Union of
Japan came for one week beginning 19 August 2002 to take part in the mangrove-planting
program. Their selfless attitudes emotionally moved the villagers, and
the mangrove planting program was organized enthusiastically with active
participation of villagers and volunteers. As of August 2002, the mangrove
belt expanded to as long as nearly 50 km with an average width of 100
meters.
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