National Capacity Building

Under National Component; a world class institute "National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management" has been established to support the Ministry of Environment, forests and climate change, state governments, institutions, organizations and public for effective coastal management.

Major scientific achievements of NCSCM (2012- April 2018)

The following major studies at a national level have been completed by NCSCM for the first time in the country, which has direct relevance and implication to policy and decision making.

Coastal and Marine Resource Conservation

Marine Resource Conservation
  • Mapping of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) along the mainland coast and islands of India has been completed.
  • Demarcation of Critically Vulnerable Coastal Areas (CVCAs) which is a unique framework for the scientific assessment of the extent of community dependence on the ecologically sensitive areas has been undertaken for 12 CVCA sites along the country’s coast.
  • Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Integration Network (CoMBINe) database for over 10,000 species has been developed and is available online.
  • Evaluation of coastal and marine ecosystem goods and services has been estimated for mangroves, coral reefs, turtle nesting sites etc.

Coastal Regulation Zone

Coastal Regulation Zone
  • Demarcation of High Tide Line (HTL) has been completed for the coast including estuaries.
  • High-resolution erosion mapping (1:10,000 scale) including prediction of erosion in the next 100 years has been completed for the entire mainland coast of India.
  • Demarcation of hazard line has been completed for the coast of India along with Survey of India (SoI) based on the erosion maps of NCSCM and flood line prepared by SoI.
  • Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) for Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh are being prepared by NCSCM as per the requirements of CRZ 2011 Notification.
  • Integrated Island Management Plan (IIMP) has been prepared for 10 inhabited Islands of Lakshadweep and for four islands in Andaman & Nicobar.
  • Guideline for the micro-level decentralized planning of fishing villages has been prepared.

Shoreline Management

Shoreline Management
  • Delineation of Coastal Sediment Cells which is the key input for the country’s shoreline management has been completed. Key areas where shoreline management plan needs to be executed have been identified.

Carrying Capacity

  • Carrying Capacity of beaches of Goa has been completed.
  • Tourism Carrying Capacity has been developed for inhabited and uninhabited Islands of Lakshadweep.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

  • Offshore wind energy potential for mainland coast and islands has been completed.
  • Carbon sequestration and measurements of greenhouse gas emissions from coastal ecosystems of India.
  • Real-time coral reef monitoring for ocean acidification and El Nino impacts.

Pollution Monitoring

  • Marine Litter and Beach clean-up programme initiated.
  • the Health of coastal ecosystems studied for restoration efforts.
  • Key pollution hotspots along the coast/ estuaries/ creeks of India are being monitored to assess cumulative environmental impacts.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

  • Guideline to prepare ICZM Plan has been developed.