The Man who grows Mangroves

Pokkan, a traditional and earthly name for an untouchable pulaya (a downtrodden caste group of agricultural labourers and fisherfolk) born in the 1930s in Kerala is now known as Kallen Pokkudan.

Pokkudan has been living close to the wetlands and, for over a decade, he has been collecting, preserving and planting the seeds of the ‘mad mangrove’ tree (long-fruited, stilted mangrove know as rhizophora mucronata). It does not sound poetical when he says, “Sometimes, I feel I’m another mad mangrove tree.” His name is now synonymous with mangrove conservation in Kerala.

In 1989, at the age of 52, Pokkudan started planting mangrove seedlings in the wetlands of his domestic surroundings. C. Surendranath, journalisty, writes: “Environmentalists had not begun to pay attention to the destruction of mangrove forests, the rainforests of the coastal ecosystem. The Coastal Regulation Zone Act had not come into force. Researchers had not begun to make a beeline to the pockets of wetlands in Kannur district in north Kerala, where Pokkudan lived. In just four decades, the extent of mangrove forests in the state had dropped from over 700 sq. km to a paltry 17 sq. km. Yet, Kannur still possessed nearly 45 per cent of the remaining wetlands in the state. It was, however, not any statistics or environmental awareness camps that created in the rustic mind of Pokkudan a passion for planting mangrove seedlings. Instead, it was disillusionment with the existing state of affairs that brought Pokkudan to this turning point.”

For Pokkudan and the other pulayas, the mangrove forests had always been a perennial source of food, fuel, fodder and medicine. “In the earlier days, we hardly got a mouthful of rice, but there were many kinds of food in the wetlands,” says Pokkudan. Like fish that could be cooked or kept apart for the days of famine or the berries and tubers that could be eaten raw or cooked. Many of these had medicinal properties. Apart from hundreds of varieties of fish, there were several of types of migratory birds in the mangroves. “The fish, the birds and the human beings depended on the mangroves.” Pokkudan considers the mangroves as the “security guards of the earth”.

Pokkudan argues ‘‘The birds that roam the skies and nest in mangrove branches, tree heads, paddy fields and river banks also have a life similar to ours’’. This philosophical correctness gives birth to the man that is Pokkudan and his commitment to the preservation of mangroves. In his autobiography he describes in detail 20 kinds of mangroves and how they thrive in marshes and swamps, the birds and insects that nest amidst them, the innumerable fish varieties that inhabit the swamps.

‘‘If someone asks me how I want to be known in future, I would say Kandal Pokkudan (‘Mangrove’ Pokkudan)’’, Pokkudan says asserting his identity with this life-giving plant.

Pokkudan, with his committed life, has been able to influence the minds of people to a greater extend.With his help, the Department of Forests set up a mangrove nursery of around 30,000 seedlings. Several arts and sports clubs began to organise campaigns to convince the public about the need to preserve mangrove forests. Nevertheless, nearly 10,000 mangrove trees, including many that Pokkudan had planted, were cut down in the name of development. But in several areas of the district, people began to put up collective resistance against the destruction of wetlands. Local self-government institutions (LSGIs) began to book cases for destruction of mangroves. For the first time, mangrove conservation schemes found a place in the annual programme of a few LSGIs.

Pokkudan’s story is as much the autobiography of a Dalit, a humanist, an environmentalist, and even that of a mangrove. The traditional wisdom of Pokkudan tells us to see beyond the perceived notions of life and living. His love for mangroves is explained in very practical terms: “I began by planting 300 mangrove plants… to prevent the sea from eroding the coast and to shield the children walking to the school from the gusts of wind. And to soak in their beauty when they grew up’’.

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