LEARNING FROM THE ROOTS OF THE OCEAN

The coastline of India covers a distance of about 5,700 km. Kerala covers 10% (590 km) of it. It’s a coastal state, with a large percentage of the state’s population living along the coast. Many are fishermen, and of them, most are traditional fishermen.

Along with the rest of the Indian coast, Kerala faces the severe threat of coastal erosion. It suffered high death rates and infrastructural damage during the 2004 tsunami and hurricane Okhi in 2017.

Studies show that the coastal erosion began in the 1980s, and there is evidence that mangrove forests grew on our shores before then. Mangroves form ecosystems of incredible biological diversity. They cool the river water near the shore and provide nursery grounds for aquatic life comprising algae, reptiles, birds, fish, shrimps, and crabs, etc., with the offspring finding safe havens in their thick, protective roots.

Building on the legacy of his late father, Kallen Pokkudan,¹ Anandan Pokkudan and the organisation Pokkudan Mangrove Tree Trust are planting mangroves along the entire coast of Kerala to form a green belt. They are also trying to set up a mangrove school and a museum to raise awareness on mangrove conservation. Coming from Dalit and Indigenous backgrounds, they use their Indigenous knowledges to remedy the climate crisis, and they are making a real impact.

As part of his process of learning from the mangrove roots, I interviewed Anandan Pokkudan where he lives in Kannur. What follows is an extract from our conversation. The conversation was recorded in Malayalam, and the excerpt was translated into English by Antony Georgy Koothanady.

Sajan: What is so significant about the mangrove forest? Could you speak about the ecological importance of mangroves?

Anandan: Ramsar Convention² took place in 1971 and was the first attempt to conserve ecology on the basis of water, culture, and soil. There are a few Ramsar sites in Kerala, Vembanad Lake, and Munnar Hills, for instance. Until this convention the mangrove was invisible to the world. In other words, academia was unaware of this primitive ecosystem of mangroves. In the context of Kerala there was no awareness at all. When the 2020 cyclone struck Orissa coast, the mangrove forest strip in Bhitarkanika withstood its impact. Even then we were unaware of the significance of mangroves, despite the fact that research on wetlands and wetland-centred conservation had been ongoing since 1971. It was around then, in 2020, that expressions like “kidneys of earth” and “roots of the earth” emerged, describing the mangroves. See, the mangroves are the roots of the ocean. The ocean exists only if the mangrove exists. Mangrove is a water purifier, a hatchery of fish, nursery for birds and animals, shelter for migratory birds. Mangrove foliage is very thick and the leaves can become very heavy. You can see the shelter provided by such trees in Pazhayangadi; my father Pokkudan planted mangroves there, also. Bird droppings enrich the soil and the roots of the mangrove. See how birds and mangroves sustain each other?

The roots of mangrove are prop roots. Such roots are above not underneath the earth and they function as a hatchery for fish roe by protecting them from the current –– otherwise they will be lost to the flow of waves and water. Fishing contributes significantly to our economy and that is made possible by mangroves. Around 10% of the Indian coast is in Kerala. A term like “God’s own land”³ is fraudulent. Kerala is a coastal state: a state of 44 rivers and several backwaters, rivulets, and streams shall be god’s own country. We are a greenish state. It is a coast-important location, so coastal conservation should be a priority. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. Now the idea of sustainable development is being discussed. When schools and institutions approach me to talk about sustainable development I say that I’ve been talking about it for the last 15 years, let alone to children!

Sustainable development is not a topic to preach about, it should be a key agenda in our policy. Coastal ecology and its restoration is important for sustainability. Embankments are being installed along the 590 km-long seashore using the rock taken from the western ghats. It is a very destructive move. A total shit! A historical blunder! Instead of a sea wall we need to revamp the coastal ecology and protect the seashore. My father proposed to use Indigenous knowledge to achieve this. I’ve planted mangroves and set mangrove nurseries in 16 different locations across Kerala, even during the covid crisis.

Mud: subaltern perspective

There is a caste system inland. People of the wetlands are in fact lower caste people who were driven away from other places. Pulayan and other slave castes came to the wetlands as part of this caste system and that created a sociological framework through which we came to understand the wetlands. We have to realise that this sociology is rooted in marsh or mud. Mud is a social indicator. Mud is a subaltern perspective. Teachers used to ask children: “Is it mud that is in your head?”

We have to speak about salt and salty water. Take the example of the Kattampally regulatory project that aimed to block brine from entering the freshwater. It failed because the brine found alternative routes, leading to total catastrophe. Plenty of flora and fauna disappeared and crops including coconut were ruined due to saline water, and different kinds of crabs including പീച്ചാളി (red crabs) disappeared soon after. There were a few endemic varieties of rice called കയമ  and ഓർകയമ in that area. These are almost extinct now. Pulaya people, who were caste slaves, cultivated rice in these wetlands based on their own Indigenous knowledges related to farming. The Pulayas were dumped in these wetlands to cultivate crops in a time of food shortage and famine. So many people were drowned in the marsh during that time. Many of our ancestors fell dead there. Their knowledge and know-how related to wetland paddy cultivation has disappeared along with the paddy fields. It’s the loss of an entire knowledge system. If we trace the knowledge of the Pulayan people, all the existing knowledge in academia will be undone at once. My father put forward that Indigenous question. He planted around 150,000 mangrove saplings; through his work he demonstrated that his aim was not conservation but restoration. That is the question and that is the subaltern politics.

Recorded in Malayalam, excerpt translated into English by Antony Georgy Koothanady.