Posters prepared by the participating children of Attarjee village on the occasion of World water Day 2024.

Last Sunday, I, along with a volunteer from the Coastal Green Zone, undertook the documentation assignment for the village knowledge register in McCarthy Valley, in the southeastern part of Kadamtala village.
We had the privilege of meeting Sisilia Kachap Nani, an 82-year-old widow of the late Ishaq Linda. After marrying, she relocated from Rajaulatu village in Namkum block of Ranchi, now situated in Jharkhand.

Sisilia emerged as a living encyclopedia of herbal and traditional medicine, a wealth of knowledge that I meticulously documented in our conversation. Despite her remarkable wisdom, she expressed concern over the gradual disappearance of many herbs from her locality. In the twilight of her life, she reminisced about her childhood days and conveyed her emotions through a poignant song.

What touched me most was Sisilia’s dedication to preserving her traditional practices and the art of crafting herbal medicines. Despite her nostalgia, she has successfully imparted this valuable knowledge to the next generation.

Coastal Green Zone celebrated Holi with the children of the fishermen community of Chunna Bhatta with a book reading from the book- ‘Moonlight in the Sea’ written by Kartik Shanker . Children shared beautiful stories and presented songs. Story and academic books are handed over to the youth leader.

CGZ organized an awareness programme on Biodiversity and local resources with fishermen community children at the Great Nicobar Island of Campbell bay through participatory Mapping Activity. Children understood the Importance of surrounding biodiversity and available Natural and man-made resources. They really enjoyed that mapping activity and that session was concluded with a motivational story.

On Tuesday 9th August 2022, Coastal Green Zone,a voluntary initiative in collaboration with
INTAC, Andaman chapter organized a one-day event for children of the fishermen’s community of
ChunaBhatta, Panighat, South Andaman. ChunnaBhatta fishermen community are known for their
traditional fishing practices, religious values, and cultural heritage. Environment consciousness is an
important part when it comes to the conservation of nature. Across the globe, it is noticeable that every
community has its heritage, art and culture, and a deep bond with its surrounding environment. The
purpose behind organizing this event was to revive the bond with art & culture and nature and to
build environmental consciousness. A beautiful story based on the “Life of a Tree” was conveyed by
Chanchal Singha Roy highlighting the importance of habitat for wild flora and fauna. The childrens
were then introduced to topics like biotic and abiotic components of environment, biodiversity, food
chain, etc. Later the children were divided into three groups and each group was given a topic based on
different themes like “drawing a map of your village”, “draw your surrounding wild animal or plant”,
“making a list of wild plants and aquatic animals around you”, and “making a list of wild edible plants
around you”. Children took great joy in doing various activities. Rajiv Mondal, new volunteer of CGZ
delivered an important lesson for the fishermen community children about health and wellness. The
theme-based magazine of INTAC was distributed. The fishermen’s community took great enthusiasm in
reading the magazine. Overall, the event motivated a lot of people in developing and reviving the
connection with their surroundings. Lastly, children and the community members gave their feedback
on the event. In the future, things like skits/play, handcraft making and nature-based games can be
included. The programme report was documented by Mayur Fulmali, active volunteer of CGZ.

During monsoon the forest comes alive with a myriad small life. We learn about the importance of forest and ecology during this trail.

Forest Dera, Kadamtala, Middle Andaman.

Coastal Green Zone & INTACH- A&N Islands jointly celebrated World Earth Day in fishermen colony of Chuna Bhatta village of Hope town, South Andaman. All 41 children express their feelings and thoughts towards protection n conservation of mother earth with the help of their pen n paper and also expressed their views during interaction. Prizes are distributed at the end of the programme. The whole programme was organized by CGZ coordinator Anand Rao. The village community leaders were also present on that occasion.