A two-member team of the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has completed a three-day field-level investigation into the alleged destruction of mangroves, mudflats in the Godavari estuary on the Kakinada coast since 2020.
The Democratic Traditional Fisheries’ Workers Forum (DTFWF) and Fridays for Future Andhra Pradesh lodged a complaint with the UNDP’s SECU on the destruction of the mangrove ecosystem by various stakeholders, including the Andhra Pradesh government.
GCF project
The UNDP has admitted the petition (No. SECU 0014) in the wake of its ₹298 crore Green Climate Fund project, a six-year climate resilience initiative that aimed at ensuring livelihood of local communities and protect the nine landscapes including Godavari estuary on the Andhra coast. A total of 25 landscapes had been identified for the GCF project in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
In an official release issued by the petitioners led by D. Pal on Saturday, the DTFWF stated that the two-member UNDP team had concluded its field investigation by visiting the sites — 100-acre Kakinada mangroves that were levelled for ‘Pedalandariki Illu’ project, mudflat destroyed by GRM Group and documented the alarming rate of erosion of Uppada coast.
The UNDP team interacted with various stakeholders, including Wildlife Management Division of the Forest Department, environmentalists working on protection of Godavari estuary and representatives of the DTFWF and Friday for Future Andhra Pradesh. The investigative report is likely to be put in the public domain within two months.
