Bhubaneswar: Five coastal districts of Odisha have mangrove forests, said Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia in the Assembly today.

Five of the seven coastal districts of Odisha have mangrove forests, said the minister while quoting the State of Forest Report-2023 of the National Forest Survey of India.

 As per the State of Forest Report-2023, mangrove forests are found in Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Puri districts of Odisha, he added.

Odisha has altogether 259.06 sq km of mangrove forests. The state reported an increase of 1.55 sq km of mangrove forests in last two years, revealed the minister.

As per the data, Kendrapara district has 212.69 sq km of mangrove forests, followed by 32.39 sq km in Bhadrak and 8.42 sq km in Jagatsinghpur. Balasore and Puri districts have 4.82 sq km and 0.74 sq km of mangrove forests respectively.

Realizing the potential of mangrove forests in reducing the impact of cyclones, the state government is planting mangrove saplings every year at suitable places in the coastal areas of Odisha through various schemes, said the minister.

The state government has planted mangrove saplings on 1,198 hectares of coastal land between 2022-23 and 2024-25 financial years. Due to this, the area of mangrove forest has increased from 257.51 sq km to 259.06 sq km in the state in last two years, he added.