An organisation rooted in the living landscape of the Sundarbans

Breathing Roots works at the intersection of ecological restoration, cultural continuity and community resilience.

In the Sundarbans, nature and human life cannot be separated. Rivers shape livelihoods. Mangroves protect settlements. Songs carry memories of place. Communities hold knowledge that has evolved through generations of living with water, forests and uncertainty.

Breathing Roots works with these connections rather than treating them as separate problems.

From relief to resilience

Breathing Roots became formally active in 2021, but its story began earlier with the Saurav Moni Team, a group largely composed of local folk musicians that had been working informally since before Cyclone Aila in 2009.

When Aila struck, the team participated in emergency relief operations. Years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic and following Cyclone Amphan in 2020, the team again organised relief work in the flood-affected Lower Hingalganj Block, Saurav Moni’s native area.

These repeated disasters led to an important realisation:

Relief is not the solution.

The team began looking beyond emergency response towards ways of strengthening the landscape and the communities that depend upon it.

One idea became central: an earthen river embankment reinforced by a protective belt of mangroves could provide a form of living resilience against cyclones, flooding and erosion.

Beginning with the mangrove

During the monsoon of 2020, the team began cultivating mangrove saplings in nursery bags, drawing upon local ecological knowledge and the seasonal arrival of mangrove seeds from the Sundarbans forest.

The method allowed young plants to develop intact root systems and made it possible to transport them to vulnerable areas when conditions were suitable for planting.

Many nurseries were established in village homes, or uthan nurseries, creating opportunities for flood-affected women and COVID-displaced migrant workers to participate in the work.

Breathing Roots subsequently introduced a three-year post-plantation maintenance programme, recognising that planting a tree is only the beginning of restoration.

The Green Wall

The Green Wall is an attempt to build resilience from within the landscape itself.

The work is about strengthening the living relationship between river, forest and community through long-term ecological care.

The organisation reports having nurtured approximately 985,000 mangrove saplings, contributing to a 6-kilometre Green Wall along vulnerable riverbanks.

The ambition is larger still: to develop this model across other riverine villages of southern Bengal and, ultimately, to imagine a continuous protective belt of mangroves along India’s vulnerable coastline.

Three connected fields of work

In the Sundarbans, ecological resilience, cultural continuity and community resilience are different dimensions of the same lived environment.

Culture is part of the landscape

Breathing Roots grew from a community of folk musicians, and music remains an important part of its work.

Between 2020 and 2024, the organisation supported more than 400 local folk musician families through musical workshops and related cultural activities.

The organisation also documents endangered and changing forms of southern Bengal’s musical heritage, including Bhatiali, Geetinatya / Pala-gaan, Pally-geeti and Palkir Gaan.

Festivals, workshops, performances, film programmes and educational exchanges create spaces where these traditions can continue to circulate.

Cultural preservation is not simply about keeping records of the past. It is about keeping cultural knowledge in circulation.

Working with the wider community

Breathing Roots has collaborated with organisations including the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), the German Consulate Kolkata, Magma Foundation, SENCO Gold & Diamonds, Living Waters Museum, the US Consulate Kolkata, and the AJC Bose Botanical Garden / Botanical Survey of India, among others.

The organisation also works with schools, creating opportunities for exchange between students from urban areas and communities in the Sundarbans.

These partnerships extend the work beyond individual programmes and create spaces for knowledge to move between communities, institutions and generations.

Looking forward

Breathing Roots began with a local response to repeated crises. Its future ambition is to take what has been learned locally and explore how that knowledge can serve other vulnerable riverine communities across southern Bengal and, ultimately, India’s vulnerable coastline.

To restore the landscape is also to sustain the knowledge and communities that belong to it.