India’s coastline underwent erosion in 28 years

• According to a report released by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, 32 per cent of India’s coastline underwent sea erosion between 1990 and 2018.
• The NCCR carried out a national shoreline change assessment mapping for Indian coast using 28 years of satellite data from 1990 to 2018 along nine coastal states and two Union territories (UT) to provide information for coastal management strategy,
• The length of the coastline of India including the coastlines of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea is 7517 km.

Key points:

• 98 coastal pockets of the country have been facing sea erosion.
• 60 percent of the West Bengal coastline underwent erosion during the period, followed by Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.
• Tamil Nadu has 26 coastal areas vulnerable to sea erosion, followed by West Bengal Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat including Daman and Diu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, and Puducherry.
• Odisha coast expanded by 51 per cent, followed by the coast of Andhra Pradesh.
• India’s mainland coastline is 6,631.53 kilometres long in which 2,135.65 kilometres was subject to varying degrees of erosion and 1,760.06 km expanded during this period.

Causes of shoreline changes:

Natural causes:

• Sea waves
• Winds generate waves and also aids in the landward movement of sand dunes
• Tides
• Nearshore current
• Sea level rise

Anthropogenic causes:

• Artificial structures near shorelines
• Beach sand mining
• Destruction of mangroves
• River water regulation

Impact:

• Impact coastal communities residing in the erosion-prone areas, including fishermen communities.
• Loss of habitat
• lose beach area
• Loss of infrastructure built near the coast.

Coastal Erosion:

• It is the process by which local sea-level rise, strong wave action, and coastal flooding wear down or carry away rocks, soils, and/or sands along the coast.

National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR):

• The Department of Ocean Development (DOD) established a Project Directorate i.e., Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM-PD), at Chennai in 1998 to implement the Environment Management Capacity Building (EMCB) programme.
• Later, the Project Directorate is designated as the “National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR)” an attached office of MoES.
• NCCR is envisaged to develop and improve the country's capabilities in addressing the challenging problems prevailing in the coastal zone, which have societal, economical and environmental implications.