"Gachh bachega toh sab bachega," says Krishna Mondal. For the last three years, she has mobilised 300 women in the Sundarbans to plant mangroves and protect their homes from cyclones.
Krishna Mondal
's story
Krishna grew up watching cyclones intensify every year and hearing elders link the phenomenon to mangrove deforestation. With no formal training, she taught herself the science of restoration: collecting seeds during low tide, nurturing saplings in homemade packets, and planting them at the right time and place to increase survival rates.
The work that
Krishna Mondal
puts in
Krishna has trained 300 women volunteers across multiple blocks in Kultali, South 24 Paraganas to plant saplings in areas most vulnerable to cyclones and floods. While the government has an official scheme to undertake this work, local political interests and illegal deforesters ensure no trees are planted. They pressured Krishna to stop but she never relents.
Impact of the work
In 2025, Krishna and her volunteers say that they have planted 2.5 lakh mangrove saplings across the Sundarbans, of which an estimated 2 lakh should have survived. She holds training sessions every one to three months, teaching 70 volunteers at a time how to nurture the saplings they plant. Volunteers on Krishna’s team say that these efforts are already working, with a noticeable decrease in damage from river flooding and cyclones over the past year.
What your funds will unlock
Krishna’s life’s goal is to save the Sundarbans. Your support will help her gather resources to meet her household needs, mobilise more volunteers, plant more mangrove saplings, and take care of the trees they have already planted.
Krishna is fighting to save the Sundarbans, one sapling at a time. Will you help her keep planting?
Testimonials
"We plant mangrove trees along the river so that there is no flooding — we have a lot of land erosion in our area almost every year, and this is our answer to it. All the girls in the village can be united and work together — I enjoy it because I am thinking about everyone, not just myself."
"Thanks to the tree-planting, the river waves can no longer crash directly against the embankment — people no longer have to keep watch through the night, and damage has decreased significantly."
References
“Krishna is a force of nature. Travelling across islands in the Sunderbans is extremely difficult. But she is able to do that and mobilize 300 women to plant mangrove saplings. Very few people are as committed as her and able to do so much with so little, especially at her age.”
“I have seen Krishna in a remote, river-dominated area of the Sunderbans. Since our area is often affected by disasters like Aila and Amphan where river embankments break, I have seen her dedicated to tree plantation work. She gathers many people to do this work.”