A story of bamboo pots, stalled funding, a revived scheme and a mangrove nursery that Grassroute is raising on the shore at Nayarambalam Puthan Kadappuram, with support from the Kerala State Biodiversity Board.
Mangroves stand guard where the sea meets the backwaters, and Grassroute has taken up the work of raising a new generation of those guardians. Permission for the project came in June 2025. Bamboo cutting began that summer, the project then slipped into uncertainty for months, and it came back to life in July 2026. Today a mangrove nursery is growing saplings that will soon be ready for planting.
Why Kerala’s Mangroves Need Protecting
The Kerala State Biodiversity Board itself points out that only a small fraction of Kerala’s original mangrove forest remains. The ecosystem matters for coastal protection, biodiversity and carbon storage, and it is threatened by deforestation, climate change and urbanisation. Media reports add that more than half of Kerala’s mangroves are privately owned, which makes conservation harder.
One study of the state’s mangroves recorded the highest number of species in Ernakulam district. Nayarambalam lies in that district, so raising new mangrove saplings here carries special weight.
The June 2025 Approval and the Budget
The project was approved in June 2025. The Kerala State Biodiversity Board was set up under the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and the state’s 2008 rules. Locally, its work runs through Biodiversity Management Committees, and Kerala was the first state to form such a committee in every local body.
The budget allocation at that stage was as follows. ₹2,30,000 had been received from the Kerala State Biodiversity Board into the Biodiversity Management Committee’s account. A further ₹1,10,000 from the MGNREG Additional Action Plan had not yet been sanctioned, and we hoped it would be approved by mid-September. Together the two amounts make a project of ₹3,40,000, so any delay in the second instalment was a real risk. The seeding season for Bruguiera gymnorhiza could be affected, and the season for Rhizophora mucronata had already ended. We would therefore be able to propagate only Bruguiera gymnorhiza.
Both species belong to the Rhizophoraceae family, whose mangroves produce propagules, elongated seedlings that sprout on the parent tree and then drop. The timing differs by species: a study in Kenya found that the two shed their propagules in different seasons. Missing one species’ window does not mean the other’s is still open, so each species has its own narrow period for collecting propagules.
Three Days, 109 Bamboo Poles: Making Pots for the Nursery
In July 2025, Grassroute’s first task was to secure the bamboo the project needed. The plan was to cut bamboo poles and turn them into pots for the mangrove saplings. Over three days, poles were cut and collected.
Day One, 25 July 2025, was at Nayarambalam. Ten students from Rajagiri Outreach joined Grassroute members, working from 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM. The target was 47 poles, each able to yield about 15 pots, which would secure at least 700 pots. The target was achieved.
Day Two, 12 August, was at Pallippuram. Four student volunteers from the Rajagiri Outreach programme worked from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The target was 27 poles, each able to yield 10 to 15 pots, and it was achieved.
Day Three, 15 August, was back at Nayarambalam. Three Grassroute members worked from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with a target of 35 big poles at roughly 20 pots each, or about 650 pots in all.
Safety came first on all three days. Everyone wore helmets, gumboots, cotton gloves and goggles. Experienced woodcutters from Grassroute led the cutting and made sure every cut was clean and safe, while the volunteers carried the poles to a designated spot for further preparation. The teams worked well together, followed the safety rules throughout and helped each other at every stage.
When the Rural Jobs Scheme Changed Names and the Project Stalled
The jobs scheme that formed part of this project’s plan was reintroduced at the end of 2025 as the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), known as VB-G RAM G. In December 2025, Parliament passed the bill. Then, from 1 July 2026, the new Act replaced the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and the guaranteed workdays for rural households rose to 125.
The obstacles that came with this changeover left our project in limbo. Funding and participation could not be firmed up, and work did not move forward for months. It was in July and August 2026 that the project came back to life.
23 July: The Workshop That Restarted the Project
The first marker of the restart was a seminar and training session on 23 July. The short seminar ran from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM and was led by I. B. Manoj. After light refreshments, a training session began at 3:20 PM. It covered bamboo planting and included a short seminar on the mangrove ecosystem. Four members from the employment guarantee scheme and four members from Grassroute took part, and the training ended at 4:30 PM.
The Nursery at Nayarambalam Puthan Kadappuram
Today, four VB-G RAM G members from Nayarambalam Puthan Kadappuram have been brought into the project jointly, and it is moving ahead smoothly under Grassroute’s leadership and supervision. We have not received all the yellow bamboo the project needs, so the remaining mangrove saplings have been planted in nursery bags. Bamboo pots and nursery bags are being used side by side, depending on what is available, as we work to keep the project on schedule.
From Nursery Bed to Shoreline: Saplings Ready for December
By December, most of these saplings should be ready to plant. The bamboo-cutting volunteers, who ranged from students to seasoned woodcutters, gave this nursery its start. Every sapling is a small piece of coastal protection for tomorrow. If you would like to join us on planting day, get in touch with Grassroute.
