Bali Island, Feb. 11: British high commissioner Richard Stagg yesterday inaugurated a mangrove project in the Sunderbans to combat global warming in the tiger reserve.

The British deputy high commission in Calcutta, in collaboration with an NGO, will develop the mangrove forest along half a square kilometre of the riverbank in Bali Island, 200km from Calcutta.

The deputy high commission is funding the project, estimated to cost around £27,500.

“Our government is very concerned about climate change and its threat to the environment. I was shocked to learn that of the 3,500km Sunderbans shoreline, more than 2,000km is without a mangrove,” Stagg said.

He pointed out how the mangroves in Bangladesh had brought down the wind speed of cyclone Sidr from 240km per hour to 100km per hour in September last year. “The presence of mangroves significantly decreased the damage caused by the cyclone.”

The NGO, Nature Environment and Wildlife Society, is in charge of implementing the project, which will include building awareness about the threat of climate change in the Sunderbans and planting mangroves.

More than 4,00,000 mangrove saplings will be planted in Mathurakhand and Amlamethi villages, which have been under threat from rising sea levels.

“Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world. I hope that projects like this mushroom everywhere,” British deputy high commissioner Simon Wilson said.

Both Stagg and Wilson planted mangrove saplings in Mathurakhand today to lay the seed for the project that will begin in April.

A documentary will be made on the project, the NGO’s programme co-ordinator, Ajanta Dey, said. “The documentary will serve two purposes. It can be used to raise awareness and as a training guide for other organisations involved in similar programmes.”

According to oceanographers helping the NGO carry out the project, in the next 30 to 100 years, the Sunderbans, Calcutta, parts of North and South 24-Parganas, East Midnapore and vast areas of Bangladesh are likely to be submerged as the earth heats up.

“A mangrove forest with its thick cluster of support roots and breathing roots can serve as a real barrier against such natural calamities,” said Abhijit Mitra, a professor at Calcutta University’s department of marine science and oceanography.