Kallen Pokkudan

Kallen Pokkudan, also known as Kandal Pokkudan, was born in 1937, to a tribal family in the remote village of Ezhom Moola, in Kannur district, Kerala. He could study only up to the 2nd standard because he had to help his parents in farming. He joined the Communist Party of India, at the age of 18. He participated in several agrarian agitations and was jailed a few times. In the 1980s, he left politics and spent his time in environmental protection activities, his primary focus being mangroves. Pokkudan started his mission of planting, protecting, and talking about mangroves in 1989. Every morning, he would set out with stacked mangrove seedlings and a packed lunch in his little boat to plant the seeds along the shore.

He would work until late afternoon with a little nap in between. People made fun of him, but he wouldn’t budge. He has planted over one lakh mangrove seedlings along the coast of Kerala, the shores of backwater bodies, and riverbanks. Whenever he would meet passers-by or school children on the streets, he would spend hours talking to them about the need to protect mangroves. The 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is considered to be the pioneers >> Read More... further proved how mangroves could turn out to be a protective shield against natural disasters. Pokkudan has authored two autobiographies based on his life and work. He published his first autobiography in 2002, named Kandalkkadukalkkidayil Ente Jeevitham (My Life among the Mangrove Forests).

Pokkudan was unsatisfied with this autobiography, so he decided to author another one, this time with the help of his son, Sreejith Paithalen. This autobiography was titled Ente Jeevitham (My Life) and was published in 2010. In his lifetime, Pokkudan has delivered close to 500 lectures and workshops to schoolchildren and local bodies. He has also received several eco-protection awards. He died on the 27th of September, 2015.