Union Minister says about 33.6% of the coastline is under varying degree of erosion

What is the News?

The government has informed Rajya Sabha that about 33.6% of the Indian Coastline is under varying degrees of erosion.

What is Coastal Erosion?

Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms.

India’s Coastal Erosion

National Center for Coastal Research (NCCR), an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has been monitoring coastline erosion since 1990 using remote sensing data and GIS mapping techniques.

On analysis of the total 6,632 km long Indian coastline of the mainland from 1990 to 2018, NCCR has found that about 33.6% of the coastline is under varying degrees of erosion.

Reasons: Increase in frequency of cyclones and sea-level rise and anthropogenic activities such as the construction of harbours, beach mining and building of dams.

What are the measures taken by the Government of India against Coastal Erosion?

Maps for identifying areas vulnerable to coastal erosion: Government has prepared 526 maps for the entire Indian coast for identifying areas vulnerable to coastal erosion on a 1:25000 scale along with 66 district maps, and 10 state/UTs maps. 

A Report on ‘National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian Coast’: It was released in 2018 and shared with various Central and state government agencies and stakeholders for implementing shoreline protection measures.

Coastal Mitigation Measures: The Ministry of Earth Sciences(MoES) had successfully demonstrated innovative coastal erosion mitigation measures at two pilot locations:

– Puducherry Beach Restoration Project: The Submerged Reef has been implemented by MoES and beach nourishment is implemented by Govt of Puducherry. This helped in the restoration of a 1.5 km long city beach after 30 years and helped to improve tourism and fishing activities in addition to protection of the coast during extreme cyclonic events.

– Kadalur Periya Kuppam, Tamil Nadu: An Offshore submerged dyke was implemented. This helped in the protection of three fishing Villages during extreme cyclonic events and restored the lost beach that is being used for the landing of fishing boats and other fishing activities.

Source: This post is based on the article “Union Minister says about 33.6% of the coastline is under varying degree of erosion” published in PIB on 31st March 2022.