The campaign will span across eight states including Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal, the company said in a statement.
The campaign aims to promote awareness on the importance of the mangroves ecosystems and invite citizens to become volunteers to help in promoting the same, it said.
The volunteers will be engaged for a period of six months and will be part of webinars, film screenings, online quizzes, digital story-telling sessions among other activities.
Over the last few decades, Godrej & Boyce said its Wetland Management Services team has been actively managing and conserving one of the largest mangroves in Mumbai at Vikhroli.
Taking their efforts a notch higher, Godrej has officially joined hands with WWF India to further strengthen the conservation efforts and promote awareness at a much larger scale across the country, it said.
WWF India has been working towards conserving wetlands across the country in the high altitudes, floodplains, urban centres and Ramsar sites for over two decades now.
Talking about the initiative, Pheroza Godrej said, “This endeavor will combine our strengths further and effectively aid us in educating the community to make them understand how small steps taken by them, as individuals, in conserving the mangroves, will eventually contribute to environmental change on a much larger scale in the future.”
WWF India CEO and Secretary General Ravi Singh said mangroves act as natural barriers of climate change, serve as nurseries and breeding grounds for a multitude of aquatic species. Their effect on controlling soil erosion is vital to shaping the topography of our coasts.
“Recognizing the role of younger generations and concerned citizens as major stakeholders in nature conservation in India, this campaign aims at building knowledge about mangroves as essential yet fragile ecosystems and enables positive action for their preservation,” he said.
The Wetland Management Services team at Godrej has been raising awareness about the mangroves ecosystem through several initiatives such as the launch of the one-of-a-kind Mangroves Mobile App available in 11 languages, a unique children’s story book published last year and poster exhibitions across educational institutes of Mumbai.
