India lost one-third of its coastline from erosion
Recently, the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) informed the Lok Sabha on the basis of a report that, about 34% of the total 6,907.18 km long coastline of India’s mainland, is facing different levels of erosion.
On the basis of this study, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said that out of all these, the Bengal coast is facing the most erosion.
A shoreline is defined as the meeting point of a sea shore or shore water with a specified surface. For example, a high-water shoreline would be the meeting point of the average high water surface with a sea shore or coastline.
The following are the causes of erosion:
- Erosion due to natural phenomenon: It involves hydrodynamic effect of ocean phenomena. Such as waves, tides, ocean currents, sediment loss etc. Due to these reasons, sediments accumulate here and there and change the shape of the banks.
- Erosion due to human intervention: Coastal areas are encroached upon for commercial purposes through unplanned construction and tourism such as factories, houses etc.
Measures taken to stop erosion:
- The National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has prepared and published an atlas of the Coastal Vulnerability Index.
- The “National Assessment Report on Coastline Changes along the Indian Coast” was released in the year 2018. It was targeted at the evaluation and implementation of shoreline conservation measures.
- The 15th Finance Commission had made special recommendations for mitigation measures to check erosion under the National Disaster Management Fund.
- In percentage terms, West Bengal has faced erosion of about 60.5% of its coastline in the period 1990 to 2018. It is followed by Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Source – The Hindu
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