~ The ‘Hariyali’ initiative aims to restore natural barriers, curb coastal erosion & enhance livelihood resilience for vulnerable communities in the region ~
Kolkata, 18th November 2025: Skipper Limited (BSE: 538562 | NSE: SKIPPER), in association with Joygopalpur Gram Vikas Kendra (JGVK) has made a courageous move towards empowering Sundarbans with the help of a planned plantation and community-based green project ‘Hariyali’ in the Basanti Block 24 Parganas South. The Sundarbans—spread across winding creeks, dense mangrove forests, and scattered island villages—has always been a place where beauty breathes in every tide, yet vulnerability shadows every shore. Families residing here have struggled against the odds to be able to sustain their lives and the challenges have increased in the recent years. The world of global warming has put this landscape at increased risk as the rising sea levels, high frequency cyclones and intrusion of salty water continue to erode both land and livelihood where communities are in a frantic fight to save their homes.
The Hariyali project aims at setting a community-based mangrove nursery to plant 20,000 saplings of mangroves and 10,000 fruit bearing plants. While the plants were sold to the neediest families in the region, the mangrove forests will contribute towards the mitigation of coastal erosion, storm waves and intrusion of saline water, which provides permanent stability of vulnerable families. Conversely, plantations bearing fruits will contribute towards sustaining nutritional requirements of the households and provide an opportunity of generating additional income to the beneficiaries. The survival rate of the plants after two years is approximately 80%. These undertakings promote carbon sequestration and the production of blue carbon, in addition to empowering the resilient communities with adaptive capacity and nature-based climate solutions.
When elaborating on the ‘Hariyali’ initiative Mr. Sajan Bansal, CMD, Skipper Limited, stated, “Humans are supposed to learn that when the nature is compromised, it is the community, which takes the initial and the greatest hit. As we started appreciating the rate of this balance undergoing change, it increased our perception that we cannot afford to wait long to really intervene. Our Hariyali project, which will be the partner of JGVK, is our joint endeavour to help the region regain what has been gradually being deprived of year after year. Planting mangroves and fruit-bearing vegetation at the community-level, we are striving to restore the protection of the natural environment on the ground and provide families with materials to sustain their lives. We at Skipper view this as a long-term investment for the local community who are reliant on it.”
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