A few minutes away from the Kumarakom boat station, on the banks of a narrow water body that flows out to the Vembanad Lake, lies a modest grove of evergreen trees and plants. A 200-meter long footpath that runs on its side leads to an old -style house with asbestos roof and creaky walls.
The house and the 55-cents property that surrounds it, once represented the pinnacle of a conservation drive with a wide variety of mangroves perched above on their stilted roots. Nowadays, however, it serves as a stark reminder of the impact of the human kind on a vital ecosystem.
“It was meant to be a sanctuary but a vast majority of the plants have been destroyed over time’’, said Tom Kurien, who currently occupies the home. The middle-aged man is the eldest son of the late Mariamma Kurien of Cheppannakkari house, fondly called Kandalammachi or the ‘mangrove mother’.
As Kottayam observed her 14th death anniversary this week, the mangrove forest that Ms. Kurien had developed over her lifetime, is now crying for conservation. “At its prime, this property hosted up to 40 varieties of mangrove species. Most of those have been destroyed after the partition and even those left face the threat of being razed down’’, he says. Mr. Kurien, with his three kids, has now been making some efforts to protect the remaining mangroves here.
Despite the falling number of trees, the family continues to receive a good number of visitors and researchers with interest in mangroves. “The number of full grown mangrove trees in this property has come down to less than 200 from over a thousand trees some two decades ago’’, laments Rini, wife of Mr. Kurien.
Till her death in 2009, Kandalammachi spearheaded a simple yet effective mangrove conservation effort in this lakeside village. She inherited a habit of cultivating mangroves at a young age from her father, Kurien, who worked as an aide of the Bakers – a British family to whom goes the credit of developing Kumarakom. Having treated these mangroves as her children, she once lodged a police complaint against one of her daughters for slaughtering 78 mangrove trees.
“At their best, mangroves form a vast coastal barrier of trunks and roots against soil erosion and provide a breeding ground for fresh water fish stock. But with conservation of these ecosystems in Kumarakom – a global tourist destination, up against the lucrative option of property development, the more obvious option wins, “ says K. Binu, noted conservationist who was closely associated with Kandalammchi.
According to him, Kandalammachi must have begun her conservation drive at least two decades before environmental activist Kallen Pokkudan. “Having seen Mr. Baker Jr. tending to the mangroves in his backyard with great care, Kurien began collecting the mangrove seeds that floated on the Vembanad Lake and built a fence around his place of stay. While doing this, he also cultivated an interest in mangroves in his daughter Mariyamma as well’’, explained Mr. Binu.
